Point Loma Nazarene University will host an NCAA Div. II Super Regional for the second time in three years. Cal State Monterey Bay will visit the PLNU campus May 24 and 25 for the double-elimination round. The winner will advance to the Div. II national championship.
Tickets can be purchased via the PLNU website.
Two schools from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference won their regional opening round, and will advance to the second round of the NCAA Division III baseball tournanent.
The Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens won over Willamette in a series they hosted, and next will face East Texas Baptist (which defeated fellow SCIAC and Claremont Colleges team Claremont-Mudd-Scripps).
University of La Verne, located less than 5 miles west of the Pomona College and Pitzer College shared campus, won its regional by defeating host Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. They will face off against the University of Lynchberg.
For the second time in three seasons, the Point Loma Nazarene University Sea Lions are headed to the Super Regionals.
Hosting the double-elimination Western Region #1, PLNU swept all three of its games, defeating Cal State San Marcos on Thursday, then beating Cal Poly Pomona on both Friday and Saturday.
As the highest ranked team in its bracket, PLNU should be hosting the winner of the Western Region #2. Cal State Monterey Bay and San Francisco State play later Saturday, SFSU having won Friday’s matchup.
The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference saw four of its nine teams qualify for the NCAA Division III tournament.
The Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens won the post-season conference tournament, earning the automatic NCAA bid. Receiving at-large bids were regular season champs University of La Verne, as well as Claremont-Mudd-Scrips and California Lutheran.
Sixty teams in total qualified for the national championship. Eight regional winners will advance to the Div. II College World Series.
California State University, San Marcos lost both games on opening day of the NCAA Div. II Regional 1 held at Point Loma Nazarene University. CSUSM lost the first game to California Collegiate Athletic Association rival Cal Poly Pomona, 13-5. The Cougars then dropped the second game to the host Sea Lions, 4-2, ending their 2024 campaign.
Hope International University is headed to the NAIA World Series for the second time, after beating Tabor College 9-3 in the Fayette Regional. The HIU Royals are in their second NAIA World Series in seven years, after having qualified in 2017.
Also from the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) in the NAIA World Series is Arizona Christian University, from Glendale.
Hope International enters the NAIA World Series ranked #10 nationally. While HIU won the regular-season conference crown by going 19 and 4 (37-14 overall), they lost to Jessup in the conference tournament. Both NIU and ACU earned at-large berths in the NAIA post-season. Arizona Christian won the Lewiston Regional to advance. Jessup lost on the second day in the Wakesha Bracket.
Both HIU and ACU will travel to Lewiston (ACU for a second time!) for the 10-team NAIA World Series which begins May 24. Lewis-Clark College will host the tournament, although they lost to Arizona Christian at the regional they hosted.
Point Loma Nazarene University is hosting a first-round regional playoff for the NCAA Div. II baseball tournament this week, with games Thursday-Saturday.
Also in the three-team double-elimination draw are Cal State San Marcos, just up the freeway from PLNU, as well as Cal Poly Pomona from Los Angeles County.
PLNU finished 40-10-1 on the season, including 25-6-1 in PacWest Conference play. PLNU not only won the regular season title, but then prevailed in the conference tournament to earn the Pac West’s automatic NCAA bid.
Cal State San Marcos and Cal Poly Pomona both play in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, which was won by Cal State Monterey Bay. CSUSM finished second, with a conference record of 26-13 (27-19 overall). Cal Poly Pomona went 25-15 in CCAA play (31-22 overall).
The draw gets underway at 2 p.m. Thursday when Cal Poly Pomona faces CSUSM. PLNU will play the loser of that game at 5 p.m. Thursday. Friday feature one game, at 5 p.m., based on results from Thursday’s games, and the series will wrap up Saturday – with a doubleheader if necessary.
The winner will go on to the NCAA Div. II Super Regionals.
Tickets can be purchased at https://plnusealions.universitytickets.com/
Hope International University, the Orange County school that competes in the Golden State Athletic Conference, is headed to Fayette, Missouri, on Monday, May 13 for the first round of the NAIA playoffs. Their first game will be against Northwestern Ohio.
HIU finished the 2024 regular season with a record of 37-14, including a stellar 19-4 conference campaign that gave them the regular season crown. However, they lost to Jessup in the championship final, giving their Northern California rivals the conference’s automatic bid to the NAIA postseason. But the selection committee rewarded HIU for an outstanding season with an at-large bid.
Subsequent games will be based on how HIU does against Northwestern Ohio in the opener.
For the second time in 2024, a California Pacific Conference member university has closed its doors.
On Friday, April 27, the University of St. Katherine announced it was entering bankruptcy proceedings and ceasing operations at the end of the semester. The small (about 300 students) school in San Marcos is one of the few Christian colleges in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.
USK was founded in 2010, and competed in 13 sports. It was probably best known outside the region for playing an annual exhibition game against San Diego State in men’s basketball.
The Firebirds finished the 2024 baseball season with a 5-23 overall record, 4-16 in conference.
USK has planned to transfer to the Golden State Athletic Conference next year – another NAIA conference. With the demise of USK and the earlier closing of the University of of Antelope Valley, the Cal Pac conference is now down to 11 baseball participants.
This summer, three additional schools are scheduled to move to the GSAC: Benedictine–Mesa, Embry–Riddle at Prescott, and Park–Gilbert.
There were a few rainouts today across Southern California due to the scattered (but often heavy) showers; check the schedule of any game you were planning to attend. Some were pushed from Saturday to Sunday, but call ahead as the storm is forecast to linger.
