Three Cciw baseball teams earn bid to ncaa regional

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Augustana, Carthage and Illinois Wesleyan will make its second trip to Bloomington, Ill., in two weeks, this time for the NCAA Baseball Regional.

The regional will begin on Wednesday, May 16, and last through Saturday, May 19.

All three teams earned a spot in the regional after a decent showing at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Baseball Tournament in Bloomington over the weekend. The Regional will be a double-elimination format and will take place at Illinois Wesleyan's Jack Horenberger Field, with No. 1 seed Luther (29-9) facing No. 6 seed Augustana (32-12) at noon, and No. 2 seed Illinois Wesleyan (32-11) facing No. 5 seed Webster (30-12) at 3 p.m. The last game will be No. 3 seed and CCIW Tournament Champion Carthage (32-11) and No. 4 seed Washington University (30-9) at 6 p.m.

In records dating back to 1978, the CCIW has never had more than two teams earn a spot to the NCAA Baseball Championship. 2004 was the last time the conference had two teams qualify (Carthage and Illinois Wesleyan).

Carthage earned a spot in the regional by winning the tournament title Saturday over Augustana. Augustana and Illinois Wesleyan earned at-large bids to the 53-team championship.