Oakland City, IN – On Wednesday, the NAIA announced the brackets for the NAIA Opening Round which will take place between May 12 and 15. There are ten sites that will be hosting an Opening Round, the Mighty Oaks are heading to Waleska, Georgia to play their tournament.
The Opening Round in Waleska, GA is hosted by Reinhardt University. The games during this four-team double elimination tournament will be played at Ken White Baseball Field. The one seed in the bracket is Reinhardt. The Eagles went 42-11 during the year and were ranked fifth in the most recent NAIA Baseball Coaches Poll. The No. 2 seed is #13 ranked Loyola (La.). the Wolfpack went 38-15 during the season up to this point. This will be Oakland City's first opponent, as the Mighty Oaks are the three seed in the bracket. The final team that will be competing for a spot in the NAIA World Series is Ave Maria, who received votes in the latest NAIA baseball top 25 rankings. The Gyrenes had a 27-25 record on the year.
This is the first time in program history that the Mighty Oaks will be competing in an NAIA Opening Round. The schedule for the tournament is listed below.
Monday, May 12
Game 1 | 11 a.m. CDT | #2 Loyola vs. #3 Oakland City
Game 2 | 3 p.m. CDT | #1 Reinhardt vs. #4 Ave Maria
Tuesday, May 13
Game 3 | 11 a.m. CDT | Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2
Game 4 | 3 p.m. CDT | Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
Wednesday, May 14
Game 5 | 11 a.m. CDT | Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4
Game 6 | 3 p.m. CDT | Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
Thursday, May 15
Game 7 (if necessary) | 11 a.m. CDT | Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6
