Dominican College has earned the top seed for the upcoming NCAA Division II Baseball Championship East Regional, as announced Sunday night by the NCAA. The six-team, double-elimination regional will be held Thursday, May 14 through Sunday, May 17 at Franklin Pierce University's Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field. Franklin Piece is the No. 2 seed for the event. Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament Champion Wilmington University claimed the No. 6 seed.
In an interesting twist of fate, all three first-day matchups at the East Regional will be rematches of the respective conference tournament finals. On Thursday, Dominican will take on Wilmington in a rematch of the CACC Championship. Franklin Pierce will face Assumption from the Northeast-10 Conference and Adelphi will play Dowling out of the East Coast Conference. A complete schedule for the double-elimination regional will be announced on Monday evening.
Dominican (37-12) will play as the top seed after winning the CACC regular season championship by seven games and finishing as the runner-up in the conference tournament. The Chargers went 22-5 in conference play in the regular-season. The club will be led by CACC Pitcher of the Year, sophomore Tom Kahl, the CACC Rookie of the Year in relief pitcher Justin Moore and the conference Coach of the Year, Rick Giannetti. DC also had five players named to the All-CACC first team in Kahl, Moore, sophomore DH Michael Munoz, freshman OF Alexi Colon and senior starter Brian Craig.
Wilmington (27-27) upset Dominican to claim the CACC Championship to earn the conference's automatic bid to the regional. Wilmington went 15-12 in conference play and will be led by the 2009 CACC Player of the Year, Cody Holliday. The senior outfielder was also named to the CACC All-Tournament team after hitting .308 in three tournament games and tying for the team lead with four runs batted in. The CACC Tournament MVP was freshman catcher/pitcher Mike Godwin. Godwin led the Wildcats with a .500 average (5-for-10) at the tournament with four RBI's, two runs scored and two doubles. He also picked up a win on the mound with a victory over Bloomfield to open WU's tournament run. He went six innings and allowed six hits and zero earned runs (three unearned) along with four strikeouts. The Wildcats were ranked seventh in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association East Region Poll.
The winner of the East Regional will advance, along with winners from the nation's seven other regions, to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship Finals, to be held on May 23-30 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. The 2009 season marks the 42nd annual NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, and the first year the finals will be held in Cary.
Thursday, May 14
Game 1: (1) Dominican vs. (6) Wilmington – 11 a.m.
Game 2: (2) Franklin Pierce vs. (5) Assumption – 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: (3) Adelphi vs. (4) Dowling – 6 p.m.
Friday, May 15
Game 4: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 11 a.m.
Game 5: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 3 Loser – 2:30 p.m.
Game 6: Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner – 6 p.m.
If four teams remain after Game 6, the following schedule will be used:
Saturday, May 16
Game 7: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner – 3 p.m.
Game 8: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser – 6:30 p.m.
Game 9: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 7 Loser – 10 p.m.
Sunday, May 17
Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner – 2 p.m.
Game 11: Game 10 rematch* - 5:30 p.m.
* Game 11 only necessary if Game 9 Winner wins Game 10.