USAO baseball headed to NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round in Lewiston, Idaho. Featuring images of Harris Field, as well as Drover players Drew Shaver, Peyton McDowall, Reed Butz, Gunnar Hansen, Ben Lawson.

Posted: May 11, 2023

TICKET PUNCHED: The Drovers are Headed to Lewiston Idaho as the No. 2 Seed

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On Thursday, the NAIA announced that the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (34-18, 17-7 SAC) would be a No. 2 seed in the Lewiston, Idaho bracket for the 2023 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round. The Drovers will be in a bracket with No. 1 seed Hope International University (Calif.), No. 3 Concordia University (Mich.), and the host school No. 4 Lewis - Clark State College (Idaho). Lewiston, Idaho is also the home of the Avista NAIA World Series every season.

Opening Round host site selections were made in part by the NAIA Baseball National Championship Selection Committee. The committee is comprised of head coaches and administrators from around the nation. Selections take into account geography, facilities and host qualification. The application deadline was on April 14, 2023.

There will be six sites where five teams compete; the remaining four locations will have four teams sent. Play will be from May 15-18 and the format will be double elimination. The winner of each will advance to the Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series in Lewiston, Idaho beginning on May 26, 2023.

#1 HOPE INTERNATIONAL (Calif.) – record: 33-9, 19-5 GSAC

The Royals qualified for the tournament as an at-large bid after finishing second in the Golden State Athletic Conference regular season and runner-up in the GSAC Tournament.

POSTSEASON AWARDS

Pitcher of the Year: Hector Garcia

Player of the Year: Max Jung-Goldberg

All-Conference First Team (6) : Omar Veloz, Maxfield Jung-Goldberg, David Rivera, Robert Mattei, Mathew Pinal, Connor Martin, Hector Garcia

Gold Glove winners (2) : Omar Veloz (C), Robert Mattei (3B)

#2 SCIENCE & ARTS (Okla.) – record: 34-18, 17-7 SAC

The Drovers qualified for the opening round with an at-large bid after finishing second in the regular season, and runner-up in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament. The selection marks the ninth time that Science & Arts has appeared in the national tournament (2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023).

USAO battled through one of the top 10 toughest schedules in the NAIA this season, and they own an 8-6 record against teams ranked or receiving votes in the final NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll of the season. USAO swept series' against No. 5 ranked Bellevue (2-0) and No. 14 Texas Wesleyan (3-0), and they won the three-game series against No. 22 McPherson (2-1).

Only 5 of 20 opponents have sub .500 records.
10 of 19 NAIA opponents have been ranked or receiving votes in Top 25 poll at some point this season.
USAO has won 12 of 15 "series" so far.
- *series of 2 games or more*
USAO won 6 of 8 conference series.
- 0-3 L at SAGU
- 2-1 W vs MACU
- 3-0 W vs TX WES
- 3-0 W vs CCC
- 3-1 W vs SCU
- 4-0 W vs WBU
- 1-3 L at OCU
- 3-0 W at OPSU

POSTSEASON AWARDS

All-Conference First Team (2) : Peyton McDowall, Christopher Martinez

All-Conference Second Team (5) : Ben Lawson, Gage Gaunt, Antonio Hrynkiw, Reed Butz, Josh Harrel

Gold Glove winners (2) : Peyton McDowall, Antonio Hrynkiw

#3 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY (Mich.) – record: 46-8, 26-5 WHAC

The Concordia Cardinals received an automatic bid into the tournament as the regular season champions of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference, and finished as runner-up in the WHAC Tournament.

POSTSEASON AWARDS

Player of the Year: Drew Fleming

Newcomer of the Year: Drew Fleming

Pitcher of the Year: Tyson Kleinfelter

Coach of the Year: Zach Johnston

All-Conference First Team (5) : Tyson Kleinfelter, Timothy Pomaville, Drew Fleming, Jordan Sherman, Jarrett Batanian

All-Conference Second Team (1) : Jimmy Wressel, Kyle Hebner, Evan Jasiak

Gold Glove award: Caleb Harmond (LF), Jimmy Wressel (C), and Tyson Kleinfelter (P)

#4 Lewis - Clark State College (Idaho) - record: 30-16, 14-10 CCC

LCSC got their spot in the tournament with an automatic bid as the host institution for the Opening Round. The Warriors had a more disappointing season than usual, finishing fourth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference regular season and third in the CCC Tournament.

This marks the first season that LCSC will NOT receive an automatic bid the NAIA World Series. The Warriors have won the NAIA World Series 19 times (most in NAIA history) and they have produced 18 Major League Baseball players.

POSTSEASON AWARDS

All-Conference First Team (7) : Dominic Signorelli, Nick Seamons, Carter Booth, Dallas McGill, Greg Blackman, Sam Olsson, Isaiah Thomas

Gold Glove (1) : Puʼukani De Sa (2B), Carter Booth (OF), Nick Seamons (OF)

WHAT'S NEXT?

Science & Arts will open play at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho on May 15, as they face No. 3 Concordia University.

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