Tourney time here in NAIA, NCAA D-III; many teams close seasons

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

The 2021 NAIA Opening Round baseball tournament begins Monday, May 17 and three Indiana teams will be involved.

No. 2 seed Indiana Wesleyan (43-12) and No. 5 Indiana Tech (31-25) are part of the five-team Marion (Ind.) Bracket at Indiana Wesleyan.

IWU, coached by Rich Benjamin, won the regular-season and tournament titles in the Crossroads League.

Indiana Tech, coached by Kip McWilliams, was the regular-season champion in the Wolverine-Hoosier Conference.

No. 2 seed Indiana University Southeast (45-14) will be one of five teams competing in the Kingsport (Tenn.) Bracket.

IU Southeast, coached by Ben Reel, was the regular season and tournament champion in the River States Conference.

The NAIA season has ended for Taylor (37-20), Saint Francis (34-22), Huntington (33-16), Indiana University-Kokomo (28-20), Marian (25-29), Indiana University South Bend (24-24), Oakland City (17-27), Bethel (15-39), Grace (12-31), Calumet of Saint Joseph (7-29) and Goshen (3-34).

The 34 wins is a single-season school record for Saint Francis and Panthers coach Dustin Butcher.

Franklin (25-12), Earlham (23-18) and Anderson ( 20-17) were among teams winning opening round series and making it to the five-team finals in the NCAA Division III Heartland Collegiate Conference tournament.

Transylvania and Bluffton will be the other two teams. The tourney is to conclude Sunday, May 23.

The 2021 season is over for Indiana’s other D-III programs — Rose-Hulman (23-14), Hanover (20-20), Manchester (19-22), Wabash (18-15), DePauw (15-21) and Trine (6-28).

NCAA D-III teams Indianapolis (27-21), Southern Indiana (24-20) and Purdue Northwest (11-22) have also seen their slates come to a close.

Ivy Tech Northwest (31-25) lost 2-1 to Kellogg in a three-game National Junior College Athletic Association Regional in Battle Creek, Mich., and wrapped its season.

Max Flock homered three times and collected five hits and six runs batted in as Vincennes swept a doubleheader from Spoon River and made the Mid-West Athletic Conference tournament May 20-23 in Normal, Ill.

NJCAA member Ancilla (6-29) has concluded its season.

NCAA Division I Notre Dame (26-10) was idle in Atlantic Coast Conference play and yet the Irish earned the program’s first regular season title since 2006 by winning the ACC Atlantic Division.

ND has one more ACC series May 20-22 at Virginia Tech before the conference tournament in Charlotte, N.C.

Indiana (24-12, 24-12) is second in the Big Ten Conference to Nebraska (25-11, 25-11). The Hoosiers have eight more conference games remaining. There will be no Big Ten tournament.

Ball State (32-16, 23-9) holds a slight lead on Central Michigan (32-17, 23-10) at the top of the Mid-American Conference standings.

BSU has a May 21-23 road series against Ohio and May 28-30 home series with Miami (Ohio) before the postseason.

The eight-team Missouri Valley Conference tournament is scheduled for May 25-29 in Carbondale, Ill. Right now Dallas Baptist (31-13, 16-4) and Indiana State (25-15, 12-8) are the top two seeds with Evansville (26-24, 9-14) No. 6 and Valparaiso (14-29, 9-15) No. 7.

INDIANA COLLEGE BASEBALL

Records Through May 16

NCAA Division I

Ball State 32-16 (23-9 MAC)

Notre Dame 26-10 (22-10 ACC)

Indiana State 25-15 (12-8 MVC)

Evansville 26-24 (9-14 MVC)

Indiana 24-12 (24-12 Big Ten)

Valparaiso 14-29 (9-15 MVC)

Purdue 11-24 (11-24 Big Ten)

Butler 11-22 (5-12 Big East)

Purdue Fort Wayne 10-32 (7-25 HL)