INDIANAPOLIS - For the first time in league history, the Landmark Conference will send three baseball programs to the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament.
The University of Scranton earned the conference automatic qualifier, while Catholic University and Elizabethtown College each earned an at-large bid.
Each team will compete in a four-team, double-elimination style regional from May 17-19. The winner of each regional will advance to the super-regional on May 24-25 in a best-of-three series. The eight super regional winners will advance to the Division III World Series in Eastlake, Ohio.
After a 9-2 victory over Elizabethtown in Sunday's Landmark Championship game, The University of Scranton baseball team (30-11) will battle N.C. Wesleyan (33-11) in NCAA Tournament action on Friday, May 17 at Christopher Newport.
Scranton captured the program's second Landmark Conference title in four seasons with victories over Catholic (25-5) and Etown (7-3, 9-2). Junior Jake Elston earned Tournament MVP honors after going 6-10 with a double, home run, seven RBI and seven runs scored in three games.
N.C. Wesleyan won the USA South Tournament for a second straight year over Brevard on Saturday and is making the program's third NCAA appearance in the last four seasons.
The Catholic University baseball team will make its fifth appearance in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship as it takes on Adrian College on Friday. The Cardinals earned an at-large selection after posting a 31-12 record while taking on a challenging non-conference schedule including multiple wins against ranked opponents.
Catholic finished the season winning 18 of its final 23 games and recorded four doubleheader sweeps against Landmark Conference opponents. The Cardinals earned ranked victories over Salisbury and Johns Hopkins along with a notable win over Arcadia, all of whom are in the 2024 NCAA Tournament field.
Catholic went 17-7 in Landmark Conference play, beating Scranton 6-0 to end the regular season and earn the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. The Cardinals met the Royals again in the first round but dropped the contest 25-5 before bouncing back to top Susquehanna 6-1 in an elimination game. The Cardinals' run ended in a tight contest against top-ranked Elizabethtown, 7-6.
As the number two seed in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Adrian upset top-seeded Kalamazoo and defeated third-seeded Hope to win the conference championship and earn an automatic bid to this year's NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs currently hold an overall record of 29-14 and finished 15-6 in the conference.
For the third straight season and 14th time in program history, the Elizabethtown College baseball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament.
The Blue Jays ended the regular season with a 31-12 overall record, 18-6 in conference play, and earned the top seed in the Landmark Baseball Tournament.
Quinten Perilli, the league's Player of the Year, led the conference in runs scored (56), and slugging percentage (.708) while starting 41 games for the Blue Jays. He also finished top-10 in the conference in batting average (.351) and hits (54), and this season Perilli reached 100 hits and 100 RBIs in his career.
Etown will take on Randolph-Macon College for the first time in NCAAs.
The Yellow Jackets are 28-13, posting the fourth-highest win total in program history. RMC went 16-6 in ODAC play and claimed the top spot in the conference standings.
This will be RMC's eighth trip to the NCAA Tournament and seventh under the tenure of head coach Ray Hedrick. This is the first time the Yellow Jackets have participated in the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons.