NEWPORT, R.I. (May 16, 2022) - For the second time in school history, a Salve Regina University sports program has earned an at-large bid to an NCAA Division III Championships. With the Selection Show announcements on NCAA.com on Monday at noon (ET), Salve Regina baseball (28-11-2) learned it will travel to Lynchburg, Virginia, to face the Hornets of the University of Lynchburg in a four-team regional bracket that also includes Birmingham Southern College (Ala.) and Earlham College (Ind.).
The Birmingham-Southern baseball team defeated Millsaps in game two of the 2022 Southern Athletic Association Championship 8-3 to win their fifth SAA tournament title. The Earlham baseball team won the 2022 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament with a 10-9 victory over Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in the final round on Saturday. University of Lynchburg baseball earned an at-large bid into the 2022 Division III baseball championship tournament after going 3-2 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship tournament. The Hornets host the Panthers, Quakers, and Seahawks at Bank of the James Stadium which is the home of the Lynchburg Hillcats, MiLB single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. The double-elimination bracket will be held Friday, May 20 - Sunday, May 22.
No. 7 Lynchburg plays Salve Regina on Friday, May 20 at 2:30 p.m.
Salve Regina earned the top seed in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Baseball Championships after winning the league's regular season title, and went 2-2 in the postseason with all of its games at home (Reynolds Field), getting eliminated by second-seeded and eventual champion Endicott College. The Seahawks are the only New England region team to earn an at-large bid in 2022.
| SEAHAWKS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT |
- 2001 (0-2)
- 2005 (0-2)
- 2016 (0-2)
- 2017 (2-2)
- 2019 (1-2)
- 2021 (2-2)
- 2022 (2-2)
|
In 2018, Salve Regina men's ice hockey earned the school's first-ever at-large bid to an NCAA Championship and played into double-overtime in the national title game against St. Norbert before a heartbreaking loss to the Green Knights, 3-2 (2OT).
The Seahawks are making their third straight and fifth overall trip in the last six completed seasons (2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022) to the NCAA Divison III Baseball Championships. The 2016 trip also featured games in a minor league baseball stadium - PNC Field - in Scranton, Pa., home of the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Head coach Eric Cirella '05, in his ninth season, reached the 200-win milestone earlier in April. He played on the Seahawk team in 2005 that made the program's second trip ever to the NCAAs under the direction of his head coach and father, Steve Cirella. The elder Cirella had guided Salve Regina to its first baseball appearance in the NCAAs (now with seven total) in 2001 with record-setting Seahawks such as Scott Alexander and Damian Costantino. Costantino's teammate, Eric Cirella, holds the NCAA all-time record for consecutive games on base (104).
The current Seahawks feature Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Defensive Player of the Year Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.) and Pitcher of the Year Dominic Perachi (Washington Depot, Conn.), along with eight other all-conference selections. No Seahawk baseball team has ever played in Virginia, and any matchup this weekend will be a first in school history. The three schools traveling to Lynchburg will each be logging over 470 miles on their way from their respective campuses - Salve Regina (585), Birmingham-Southern (569), Earlham (471).
RELATED: 2022 NCAA DIII baseball championship selections announced
Bank of the James Stadium was originally constructed in 1939 to be used as a complex for professional baseball teams. The baseball stadium was built in conjunction with an adjacent 6,000-person football stadium. The New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers played in the inaugural game at City Stadium on April 11, 1940, in front of an estimated crowd of 7,000.
See the full 2022 Division III baseball championship bracket here.
There will be 16 regional sites – 14 four-team sites and two two-team sites – to open this year's national championship. The four-team sites will use a double-elimination format and the two-team sites will be a best-of-five series. The winners of the 16 regional tournaments will advance to eight best-of-three super regionals on Friday-Saturday, May 27-28. The eight super regional winners will then qualify for the pool play double-elimination championship at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which is scheduled from Friday-Tuesday/Wednesday, June 3-7/8.
2022 NCAA Lynchburg Regional Schedule
Day 1: Friday May 20, 2022
Game 1 - No. 1 seed Birmingham-Southern 10,. No. 4 seed Earlham 2 - 11 a.m. | https://youtu.be/8zybYa3UY-k
Game 2 - No. 2 seed Lynchburg 7, No. 3 seed Salve Regina 3 - 2:51 p.m. | https://youtu.be/tmtOIBkhlmI
Day 2: Saturday May 21, 2022
Game 3 - Salve Regina 7, Earlham 6 -11 a.m. | https://youtu.be/8lepxUTXf7o
Game 4 - Birmingham Southern 10, Lynchburg 2 - 2:30 p.m. | https://youtu.be/_EuXysYKMAo
Day 3: Sunday, May 22, 2022
Game 5 - Salve Regina 6, Lynchburg 3 - 11 a.m. | https://youtu.be/IYuvrsLydjE
Game 6 - Birmingham-Southern 10, Salve Regina 2 - 11 a.m. | https://youtu.be/hxCYx1lNb_c
Day 4: Monday, May 23, 2022 (@ Liberty University)
Game 7 - Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary) - TBA | https://youtu.be/37Sg1zwmILA
