Schedule for the first two days of the 63^rd NAIA Baseball National Championship, Friday-Saturday, May 24-31, Harris Field, Lewiston, ID (all times PDT):

8:30 AM: #8 seed Indiana Tech (41-14-1) vs. #9 Bellevue (46-14)

Indiana Tech (Fort Wayne) is making their sixth trip to the Baseball National Championship. The most recent one was in 2003. They are the champions of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference. Twitter: @INTechBaseball
Nickname: Warriors
Rankings: #23 in coaches' poll, #7 in ISR. SoS: #20
Quality wins: 2-0 vs. Tennessee Wesleyan, 2-1 vs. Freed-Hardeman, 2-0 vs. U. of the Cumberlands
Top position players: 1B/C Glen McClain (.435, 17 HR, 54 RBI), 3B Branson Dossen (.370, 5 HR, 49 RBI), 1B/3B Jake Defries (.368, 3 HR, 42 RBI). McClain is tied for 12^th in the NAIA in hitting and home runs.
Top Pitchers: RHP Tanner Perkins (5-0, 1.10 ERA), LHP Charles Dunavan (9-1, 2.60 ERA, 93 strikeouts), RHP Seth Sorensen (7-3, 2.24 ERA, 63 strikeouts), LHP Dan Shaw (2-2, 1.79 ERA, 62 strikeouts)
Coach: Kip McWilliams, 12^th season
Outlook: The Warriors are happy to be here.

Bellevue (Omaha, NE) is making their 13^th trip to the Baseball National Championship. The most recent one was in 2016. They are the champions of the North Star Athletic Association. Twitter: @BUBruinBaseball
Nickname: Bruins
Rankings: #21 in coaches' poll, #20 in ISR. SoS: #77
Quality wins: Saint Thomas, Oklahoma City, LSU-Shreveport
Top position players: SS Kory Longaker (.385, 12 HR, 57 RBI), C Travis Tanaka (.380, 3 HR, 51 RBI), 3B J.T. Patterson (.379, 24 home runs, 87 RBI). Patterson is fourth in the NAIA in home runs, and second in RBI.
Top Pitchers: LHP Jarrett Poh (9-0, 1.55 ERA, 68 strikeouts), RHP Stephen Knapp (10-2, 2.33 ERA, 51 strikeouts), RHP Colton Walker (5-2, 4.13 ERA, 60 strikeouts). Poh has the sixth-lowest ERA in the NAIA.
Coach: Duane Monlux, ninth season
Outlook: The Bruins will win a game.

Players from NAIA schools taken in the 2018 Major league Baseball draft:

Schedule for the first two days of the 62^nd NAIA Baseball National Championship, Friday-Saturday, May 25-June 1, Harris Field, Lewiston, ID (all times PDT):

8:30 AM: #8 seed Antelope Valley (44-12-1) vs. #9 Reinhardt (41-18)

Antelope Valley (Lancaster, CA) is making their first appearance at the Baseball National Championship, in only the third season of their program. They won both the regular season and tournament championships of the California Pacific Conference.
Nickname: Pioneers
Rankings: #17 in coaches' poll, #29 in ISR. Strength of Schedule: #93
Quality wins: 2-2 vs. Lewis-Clark State, Middle Georgia State, 2-1 vs. William Jessup
Top position players: IF Michael Pereznegron (.398), IF Tyler Pittmon (.376, 9 HR, 64 RBI), OF Adam Maciel (.410, 57 RBI), C/1B Nathaniel Broaddus (.318, 8 HR, 42 RBI)
Top pitchers: RHP Clayton Rabiej (11-0, 3.28 ERA, 93 K), RHP Jacob Castillo (11-0, 4.75 ERA), RHP Jesse Garcia (7-4, 5.30 ERA, 77 K), LHP Chris Gutierrez (3-0, 2.61 ERA)
Coach: Jacob Garsez, third season
Outlook: The Pioneers should win this one, but if they do, Saturday night's game against Faulkner will be a challenge.

Reinhardt (Waleska, GA) is one of five teams making their first appearance at the Baseball National Championship. The Eagles and Freed-Hardeman are tied for fourth in the NAIA in team fielding, with a .971 average.
Nickname: Eagles
Rankings: Unranked in coaches' poll, #14 in ISR. Strength of Schedule: #24
Quality wins: 1-1 vs. Middle Georgia State, 2-1 vs. Campbellsville
Top position players: OF Kaleb Swayze (.356, 10 HR, 45 RBI), 1B Sherman Graves (.316, 10 HR, 55 RBI), IF Jacob Cagle (.256, 12 HR, 49 RBI)
Top pitchers: RHP Heriberto Casasola (Panama City, Panama; 6-2, 2.25 ERA, 48 K), RHP Dylan Powers (11-3, 2.62 ERA), 80 K), RHP Jason Gifford (9-3, 3.32 ERA, 85 K)
Coach: John Harris, first season
Outlook: The Eagles are happy to be here.

The Florida Memorial University Lions (Miami Gardens, FL), who went 18-70 over the past two seasons, are 17-9 as of the day this was published, with a series sweep of Warner. They are the top-ranked team in the Black College Nine's small school poll. They are going into a Sun Conference series at Ave Maria (Paywalled streaming video).

Their Coach is Tino Burgos, who is in his second season. He played college ball at Florida International, and coached at Hialeah Gardens Senior High School for eight years.

The player that is turning heads for the Lions is DH Sergio Chil, who came to Florida Memorial from Havana via ASA College in Miami. A junior, he is batting .488.

Chil's relocation to Miami was facilitated by Rangers scout Jose Rafael Fernandez, who is a good friend of Chil's father. Prior to going to ASA College, he was a student at Mártires de Barbados, a school in Havana for high performance athletes. He describes his training there as "strong and intense". During his first season at ASA College, he batted .450. This season, he has done a lot of work in the batting cage with hitting coach Yunieski Gurriel, learning to let the pitches come to him and hit more to right field. He says that he gets a lot of positive energy from Coach Burgos.

News from Saint Xavier University: One of the most exciting World Series in recent memory came to a close Wednesday night with the Houston Astros claiming their first championship in franchise history, and for the first time a Saint Xavier alumnus was right in the middle of the celebration.

Astros reliever Luke Gregerson (2003-06) became the first Cougar to be on a World Series-winning team after the game seven victory, the highlight of his nine seasons in the Major Leagues. The 2014 SXU Hall of Fame inductee made two appearances in the World Series, first in a thrilling Game 5 in which Gregerson inherited two runners but struck out Los Angeles' Chris Taylor to end the threat. Houston would go on to come back later that night to win in extra innings, taking a 3-2 lead in the series. Gregerson also came on in the 8th inning of Game 6 to pitch two-thirds of an inning, recording one strikeout.

Players from NAIA schools taken in the 2017 Major League Baseball draft:

More to come...

Schedule for the first two days of the 61^st NAIA Baseball National Championship, Friday-Saturday, May 26-27, Harris Field, Lewiston, ID (all times PDT):

8:30 AM: #7 seed Science and Arts of Oklahoma (47-15) vs. #10 The Master's (39-21)

Science and Arts of Oklahoma (Chikasha, OK) is making their second appearance at the Baseball National Championship. They went two-and-out last year, and were taken out by The Master's. The Drovers win the United Nations award for the second straight year; they have an Australian, five Puerto Ricans, and a Dominican Republican.
Nickname: Drovers
Rankings: #19 in coaches' poll, #27 in ISR. Strength of Schedule: #37
Quality wins: 3-1 vs. Bellevue, Davenport, 3-1 vs. Friends, Oklahoma Baptist
Top position players: UTL Christian Perez (.434, 10 HR, 59 RBI, Bayamon, Puerto Rico), RF Randy Ventura (.429, 10 HR, 52 RBI, Carolina, Puerto Rico), C Dillon White (.410, 15 HR, 80 RBI). White's 80 RBI are fifth-best in the NAIA.
Top pitchers: LHP Francis Ventura (10-1, 1.64 ERA, 88 K), LHP Jose Hidalgo (9-1, 2.04 ERA, 85 K), RHP Ruddy Estrella (1-1, 2.49 ERA, 29 K), LHP Carson Korff (8-0, 2.56 ERA, 52 K). Ventura's ERA is third-lowest in the NAIA, and lowest of the pitchers in this tournament. Hidalgo's ERA is 15^th-lowest.
Coach: Mike Ross, 13^th season
Outlook: The Drovers had to beat a really good Bellevue team twice and a good Davenport team to get here. This is a tough first round matchup for both teams.

The Master's (Santa Clarita, CA) is making their fourth appearance at the Baseball National Championship. They went 1-2 in last year's tournament. The win was 6-1 over Science and Arts of Oklahoma; RHP Brad Lohse pitched a complete game. They won the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament by winning five straight after losing the opening game.
Nickname: Mustangs
Rankings: Unranked in coaches' poll, #7 in ISR. SoS: #6
Quality wins: 4-1 vs. Menlo, 2-0 vs. Georgia Gwinnett. Defeated Hope International twice in GSAC tournament.
Top position players: C Jonah Jarrard (.413, 12 HR, 46 RBI), 3B Michael Sexton (.401, 16 HR, 59 RBI), CF Max Maitland (.351), SS Aaron Shackelford (.316, 14 HR, 50 RBI), 1B David Sheaffer (262, 8 HR, 59 RBI)
Top pitchers: RHP Danny Lutz (2-1, 2.53 ERA, 29 K), RHP Aaron Alexander (10-4, 2.84 ERA, 95 K), RHP Robert Winslow (8-5, 2.92 ERA, 97 K), RHP Jason Karkenny (5-2, 4.28 ERA, 49 K)
Coach: Monte Brooks, 21st season
Outlook: After a slow start, the Mustangs went 24-4 since March 25, and enter this tournament with a nine-game winning streak. Preview from The Master's College.

NAIA coaches' poll for May 2, 2017, with Boyd Nation's ISR. Recaps below.