Eagle Baseball Advances To Midwest Split Regional In Detroit

It's always a nerve-racking time to wait to see if you have done enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
 
The Ashland University baseball team did enough to move on indeed, as the Eagles (35-19) found out on Sunday (May 15) night that they will open NCAA postseason play on Thursday (May 19) against Illinois Springfield in Midwest Region No. 2 at Wayne State's Harwell Baseball Field in Detroit, Mich.
 
Ashland is the No. 6 overall seed in the Midwest Regional, following runner-up finishes in both the Great Midwest Athletic Conference regular season and tournament. The Prairie Stars are the No. 3 seed and 43-8 overall this spring.

In the other side of the Detroit split regional, the host Warriors (35-17), the overall No. 2 seed, will play No. 7 seed Walsh (30-21) on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
 
Thursday's game will be a rematch of the NCAA Division II Midwest Super Regional in 2019, hosted by AU, in which the Eagles took two of three from Springfield and moved on to the D-II College World Series.
 
Ashland baseball celebrated its first 100 years of play earlier this season, and has advanced to the NCAA Division II College World Series six times (1995, 1999, 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2019). This is the Eagles' first NCAA postseason appearance in three years, and is the 17^th time AU has reached the NCAA playoffs under head coach John Schaly.
 
A 56-team tournament, the D-II postseason will begin on Thursday at regionals at on-campus sites. The 2022 NCAA Division II College World Series will be June 4-11 in Cary, N.C.