Sagehen first baseman Issac Kim hit for the cycle as Pomona-Pitzer defeated East Texas Baptist two games to none to advance to the D-III World Series for the first time in program history. Pomona-Pitzer athletics photo

By Jim Dixon
D3sports.com

The pairings are set as eight teams are set to descend on Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio, the new home of the Division III Baseball Championship, colloquially known as the Division III World Series. The championship is hosted by the North Coast Athletic Conference and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission. Last year the D-III World Series ended its four-season tenure at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

• Regionals: Preview | Day one | Day two | Day three
• Super Regionals: Preview | Day one | Day two
• One last chance for Birmingham-Southern

The 60 teams that started the journey a couple weeks ago danced around raindrops, but with little drama in the weather, the teams presented plenty of notable pitching performances, walkoffs and classic slugfests. We have veteran teams, we have newcomers with all eight bringing their fans to the first D-III World Series to be held in Eastlake, Ohio.

The following pairings and seedings, as two brackets of four teams meet in double-elimination play, with the winners advancing to the best-of-three Division III Championship Series.

• D3baseball.com World Series Program (to come)
• d3photography.com D3WS photos (2009-present)
• NCAA playoff bracket
• Get Tickets

The pairings, including game times for first-round action on Friday, May 31:

Bracket 1
No. 12 Pomona-Pitzer (37-12)  vs. No. 11 Misericordia (38-9), 10 a.m. EDT (No. 4 vs. No. 5 seed)
No. 1 Endicott (46-2) vs. Lynchburg (35-15), 1:15 p.m.* EDT (No. 1 vs. No. 8 seed)

Bracket 2
No. 8 Salve Regina (38-8) vs. Birmingham-Southern (32-14), 4:45* EDT (No. 2 vs. No. 7 seed)
No. 5 UW-Whitewater (40-9) vs. No. 24 Randolph-Macon (33-14), 8:00* EDT (No. 3 vs. No. 6 seed)

* Please note: All times are tentative, following the first game of the day. Games are unlikely to remain on this schedule, as there is approximately 50 minutes slated between games for field prep and infield/outfield. 

You may see that the committee's seedings do not entirely match up with our Top 25 rankings, although they are pretty close. The NCAA has never taken the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 or other national polls into account when selecting teams or seeding its postseason tournaments.

Bracket One

Misericordia will be banking on its experience from 2023 to improve on its 1-2 finish in last year's event. The Cougars open against World Series newbie Pomona-Pitzer. The team might be new to the World Series but the Sagehens' head coach, Frank Pericolosi, is not. Pericolosi has chaired the baseball committee for several years and has been involved in many of the aspects that might derail a coach leading his team there for the first time. Top ranked Endicott has all the tools to come out of the bracket to play in the Championship Series. They can draw upon their experience last year and is coming in with the fewest losses since Trinity (Conn.) came into the Series undefeated. They will have to face the defending national champions, the Lynchburg Hornets on Friday. This is a team playing with a lot of confidence as they swept through their conference tournament on the road, swept through their regional on the road and swept through their super-regional on the road. Eastlake is less than eight hours from the campus in Virginia and should be within reach of many of the Hornets fans. Despite all that, we expect it will be Endicott standing tall when bracket play is complete.

Bracket Two

Salve Regina is making the trip for the first time and most of the time, the first appearance means a 0-BBQ trip with the only benefit the team gets is the Thursday barbecue. As the top seed in the bracket, they earned their spot. They will have to face the fans favorite Birmingham-Southern as they try to become the first team since Texas-Tyler to win the national championship in their last year playing D3 baseball. Unlike Texas-Tyler who moved to D-II after winning the title, Birmingham-Southern will be closing its doors on the day the Panthers play their first game of the series. UW-Whitewater is the second team in the field that has already hit the 40 win mark. While it has been eight years since the Warhawks earned a World Series berth, they are the team with the most appearances (7), most wins (14) and most titles (2) with six of those seven appearences coached by John Vodenlich. They draw Randolph-Macon. The Yellow Jackets are making their second trip and in their first trip in 2018 went 3-2, good for a third place finish. Our crystal ball reveals the Warhawks as bracket two champs.

You can follow all of the action from Eastlake on D3baseball.com, including finding links to live audio broadcast and live stats. 

Jim Dixon of D3baseball.com and Pat Coleman of D3sports.com will be on-site with a revolving cast of guest writers to provide coverage, as will our colleagues at d3photography.com. Here's what you can expect between now and Friday:

• Tuesday morning: The annual D3baseball.com All-Region team. Drawn from more than 1,000 nominations by schools, the All-Region team recognizes the best of the best in each of the 10 regions in Division III baseball.
• Wednesday morning: The D3baseball.com All-America team, including D3baseball.com Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Rookie of the Year.
• Thursday morning: Our World Series program. This includes each team's road to Eastlake, their key stats and players to watch and the team roster, all the better for you to follow each team at a glance whether you are in the stands at the games or watching from home.
• Friday morning: Wall-to-wall baseball for, who knows, maybe 16 hours. And more on Saturday and the rest of the days until we have crowned a champion.

Keep an eye on D3baseball.com for that and more all week.