Saturday, May 2, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. - The three-team field is set for the third annual GNAC Baseball Championships.

Montana State Billings, which won the regular-season championship and the right to host, will be the one-seed while Western Oregon received the two-seed and Northwest Nazarene the three-seed.

Play in the double-elimination tournament will begin Thursday in Billings, Mont., with three games at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The third-seeded Crusaders will take on No. 2 Western Oregon in the first game of the championship. NNU will immediately follow the first game with a contest against top-seeded Montana State Billings. The nightcap on Thursday will feature a battle between the top two seeds, WOU and MSUB.

The top two teams coming out of Thursday’s games will play in the GNAC championship game Friday beginning at noon.

The entrees were not decided until the final day of the regular-season as Montana State Billings (27-21, 22-10 GNAC) narrowly edged Western Oregon (26-23, 21-11 GNAC) for the conference title, earning the right to host next week’s championships.

The Yellowjackets win snapped the Wolves streak of 13 straight regular-season titles, dating back to 2002.

Northwest Nazarene (27-26, 15-17 GNAC) will be making their first trip to the GNAC Championships after having to win one of its remaining four games, beating WOU 8-7 in 12 innings in game three of the series.

GNAC Baseball Championships
May 7-8 at Dehler Park in Billings, Mont.

Thursday
Game 1: #3 Northwest Nazarene vs #2 Western Oregon, 1 p.m. (MDT)
Game 2: #3 Northwest Nazarene vs #1 Montana State Billings, 4 p.m. (MDT(
Game 3: #2 Western Oregon vs #1 Montana State Billings, 7 p.m. (MDT)

Friday
Game 4: TBD, noon
Game 5 (if necessary): TBD, 3 p.m.