May 11, 2009

Allendale, Mich. - The NCAA Division II Baseball Selection Committee announced Sunday night that Grand Valley State is one of 48 teams to participate in the upcoming 2009 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship. The Lakers are seeded second in the six-team Midwest Regional tournament that will be held in Chillicothe, Ohio May 14-18. The Lakers (41-13-1) will play fifth-seed Indianapolis (40-19) Thursday (May 14) at 12 noon in VA Memorial Stadium.

Grand Valley State earned the GLIAC's automatic bid after claiming its sixth straight conference tournament title. The Lakers went 3-0, claiming victories over Northwood (6-4), Wayne State (12-11) and Northwood (7-4) in the title game. GVSU has now won 17 straight GLIAC Tournament games and seven straight league titles.

GVSU will be making its eighth consecutive trip to the NCAA DII Baseball Tournament. The Lakers are one of only three teams (Central Missouri and Florida Southern) in DII baseball to appear in each of the last eight tournaments.

Ashland is seeded first, followed by #2 GVSU, #3 Southern Indiana, #4 Northern Kentucky, #5 Indianapolis and #6 Rockhurst.

The championship provides for eight regional sites - six sites will host six teams, the West region will host four teams, and the South region will host eight teams. All regionals are double-elimination tournaments Thursday through Sunday. The Midwest champion and the seven other regional champions will advance to the double-elimination championship finals May 23-30 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.