NC Wesleyan baseball set to kick off NCAA regional play

Rocky Mount, NC - The North Carolina Wesleyan baseball team left early Tuesday morning for Salisbury, MD where the Battling Bishops will kick off NCAA regional play on Wednesday afternoon versus York College (PA). The Bishops, who are the #3 seed in the regional, will enter tournament play with a 27-19 overall record and a #25 national ranking. This is Wesleyan's 21st appearance in the national tournament, and the Bishops will going for a 13th regional crown.

Joining NCWC in the eight-team South Region will be host and #1 seed Salisbury University (37-6). Salisbury undoubtedly enters play as the favorite as the Sea Gulls are currently ranked #3 in the nation and will likely benefit from the support of their home crowd.

The remaining seeds are #2 Shenandoah (33-8), #4 Christopher Newport (24-11-2), #5 Washington & Jefferson (33-12), #6 York (27-14), #7 Johns Hopkins (24-14), and #8 Washington & Lee (22-13). The Bishops have posted a 6-5 combined record against opponents in this field over the 2009 season.

Wesleyan's opening game versus York is slated for a 4:30 p.m. start on Wednesday.  The Bishops downed the Spartans 7-1 in their final regular season game back on April 25th. Depending on a win or loss, the Bishops will face either Shenandoah or Johns Hopkins, who face off in Thursday's late game. NCWC is 3-2 versus the Hornets this season, most recently stealing the 2009 USA South Tournament title by knocking off Shenandoah twice on championship Sunday.

All games will be played at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, home of the Delmarva Shorebirds, and will feature live in-game statistics courtesy of the Salisbury Sports Information Department. Links to live coverage, as well as updated scores, game times, opponents, facility information, and directions, are now available via the official regional website at http://www.suseagulls.com/ncaa/bbregional09/index.

Ironically, this season marks the 10- and 20-year anniversaries of NCWC's 1989 and 1999 National Championship wins.  Will the Bishops make continue this tradition in 2009?  Let's hope so...

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