DII/CIAA/MEC/SIAC/Baseball
By Michael Coker/ Black College Nines
Several Historically Black College and University (HBCU) baseball teams advanced to post season tournament after having played through regular season and conference baseball tournaments. Their 2015 seasons culminated with advancing to the Division II College World Series playoffs scheduled to start action May 14-17, 2015.
Albany State (20-32) captured the 2015 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) tournament defeated Stillman College for the SIAC title to earn an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament and will be the sixth seed in the South Regional will face West Alabama in the NCAA Tournament.
Albany State third in the SIAC Eastern Division (Benedict College Regular Season Champs) finished 12-5, 17-30 overall.
Winston Salem State (40-13) five-time defending Central Intercollegiate Athletic Associate (CIAA) regular season and conference champion defeated conference foe Virginia State to take the CIAA earning its fifth automatic bid back into the NCAA tournament.
The Rams, 15-1 in conference, selected as the fourth seed in the NCAA Atlantic Regional will take on a tough #3 seed Seton Hill University in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Tournament.
WSSU will open the tournament at Jerry Uht Park in Erie, Pa. If the Rams win the Atlantic Regional , they will advance to the double-elimination championship finals May 23-30 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina where they are familiar having played 10 games (7 regular season and 3 conference tournament) games this year. “WSSU split a two game set with Seton Hill earlier this season defeating the Griffins 4-3, before dropping a 1-0 decision”.
West Virginia State (30-10, 35-14 overall) the Mountain East Conference champions, the Yellow Jackets rallied from 4-1 down to defeat Shepherd 5-4 in 10 innings to repeat as Mountain State Conference (MEC) baseball champions Sunday.
WVSU had a thrilling MEC tournament. Losing the first game in the double elimination tournament then winning three straight to reaching the conference championship. Needing to win two games in the championship rounds, “the Yellow Jackets scored five times in the last three innings to turn a 7-3 deficit into an 8-7 win over Shepherd Sunday and force a winner take all title game”. In game 2, “West Virginia State rallied past Shepherd for a 5-4 win in 10 innings to win the Mountain East Conference Baseball Tournament”.
WVSU selected to the 6 team NCAA Atlantic Regional to be held at Mercyhurst seeded sixth and will play #1 seed Mercyhurst in the first game of the Division II tournament.
All DII regionals are double-elimination tournaments scheduled to be played May 14-17. Regional champions will advance to the double-elimination championship finals May 23-30 at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, North Carolina. The finals will be hosted by “the University of Mount Olive” in Cary, North Carolina.