The Tigers of Edward Waters College and the Talladega Tornadoes will compete in the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Baseball Championship Tournament on May 4-7 in Lawrenceville, Georgia, on the Georgia Gwinnett College Campus Grizzly Baseball Complex.
Georgia Gwinnett currently ranked No. 3 nationally in the 2019 NAIA Baseball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll will host the tournament for the 5th consecutive year. This year the tournament will be a five-team double elimination format including the College of the Ozarks (Mo.), Edward Waters College (Fla.), Fisher College (Mass.), Georgia Gwinnett College and Talladega College (Ala.).
Both EWC and Talladega return for the fifth time to the A.I.I. Championship Tournament. Talladega reached the championship game last year and defeated No. 3 Georgia Gwinnett 5-2 to win its first-ever Association of Independent Institutions Baseball Championship conference title.
The two teams that make it to the championship game will automatically qualify for the opening round of the 2019 NAIA National Tournament.
Talladega, which lost to Georgia Gwinnett in the 2017 title game, looks to make it’s third straight appearance in the NAIA national tournament and is ranked No. 8 in Black College Nines HBCU Baseball small school Top 10 Poll.
The A.I.I. governing body will notify of the seedings with scheduled play to start May 4 through the conclusion of the tournament.
Both Edwards and Talladega want to play in the Opening Round of the national tournament and advance to the Avista-NAIA World Series.
Black College Nines will provide updates, stats and scores during the tournament for both HBCU Baseball programs.