Three CCIW teams advance to ncaa division iii baseball championship

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Three College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) teams were selected to the field of 54 for the 2008 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship as announced by the NCAA on Monday.

The CCIW was one of only three conferences to have three or more teams selected to the NCAA Baseball Championship. The New Jersey Athletic Conference had the most teams with four (Rowan, Montclair State, Kean and The College of New Jersey). The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) also had three teams selected (Oshkosh, Whitewater and Stevens Point) as did the Little East Conference (Southern Maine, Keene State and Eastern Connecticut State).

Augustana (32-11, 14-7) will host its own regional May 14-18 and will be joined by CCIW regular season and tournament champion Illinois Wesleyan (33-9, 18-3). Carthage (35-8, 17-4) will travel to Oshkosh, Wis., May 14-18 for the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh regional.

Joining Augustana and Illinois Wesleyan will be Wisconsin-Stevens Point (28-14), Wartburg (26-13), Linfield (30-10) and Webster (28-13). Joining Carthage will be host Wisconsin-Oshkosh (29-9), St. Thomas (Minn.) (31-7), Wisconsin-Whitewater (35-8), St. Scholastica (32-4) and Knox (15-23).

Augustana faces Wartburg in a 7 p.m. contest May 14 while Illinois Wesleyan will play Webster at Noon. Carthage faces host Wisconsin-Oshkosh at 4 p.m.

This is the second season in a row that the CCIW will be represented by three teams in the field of 54. Augustana, Carthage and Illinois Wesleyan all advanced to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship last season.