By: COURTESY OF HUSSON SPORTS INFORMATION
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The NCAA revealed its tournament field for the upcoming NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament on Monday and the Husson University baseball team will head to Montclair State University for its regional site.
The Eagles (24-16) won their seventh-straight North Atlantic Conference title on Saturday over Thomas College by a final score of 4-3. Freshman Liam Kelley won tournament MVP after he went 7-12 at the plate across the three games for the Eagles, while also driving in eight runs and posting four extra-base hits.
No. 9 Endicott College (35-9) won its fifth-consecutive Conference of New England championship by sweeping both games of the championship series against Western New England University. The championship was Endicott's 11th conference title in the CNE/CCC and it has been to the Division III College World Series in 2024 and 2023, while appearing in the semifinals last year.
No. 12 Montclair State is the host of the regional after they earned an at-large bid out of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, where it fell to William Paterson University in the conference tournament. The Red Hawks will host a NCAA Regional for the first time since 2000, marking the 29th overall appearance in the tournament in program history. Montclair has made the Division III World Series 13 times with three National Championships.
Whitworth University rounds out the regional field after it earned the Northwest Conference's automatic bid by defeating Linfield University 9-7 in the NWC tournament championship game last Friday at Merkel Field. Whitworth is making its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, third under head coach CJ Perry, and fifth overall.
Husson and Endicott will match up in the opening game of the regional at 11 a.m. and Montclair State and Whitworth will battle at approximately 2:30 p.m.
The Eagles will be looking for their first-ever regional championship and battled Endicott in the 2024 Regional Championship, but ultimately fell by one run to the No. 1 ranked Gulls.