Monday, May 4, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. - GNAC regular-season champion Saint Martin's will join GNAC tournament champion Montana State Billings in this week's NCAA West Regionals.

Saint Martin's, which was awarded one of the five at-large berths to the regional, is the seventh seed and will open the tournament Thursday at St. George, Utah, against PacWest champion and No. 2 seed Dixie State.  The first pitch will be at 5:30 p.m. Pacific.

Meanwhile, eighth-seed MSUB, which earned the GNAC's automatic berth by winning the conference tournament, will head to Seaside, Calif., for a first-round matchup Friday against top-seed Cal State Monterey Bay, which won the California Collegiate Athletic Association title.  That game will also begin at 5:30 p.m. Pacific.

MSUB is in the tournament for the fourth time.  They split four games in 2005 and lost two straight in both 2009 and 2012.

Saint Martin's will be making its second appearance in the NCAA tournament.  In 2013, they posted a 2-2 record, losing in their sub-regional championship game,

The winners of the two sub-regionals will play a two-out of three series next Friday and Saturday for the regional championship.

NCAA West Regional #1 (at St. George, Utah):  Thursday  - #6 Chico State (28-20) vs. #3 California Baptist (40-9), 3 p.m.; #7 Saint Martin's (41-18) vs. #2 Dixie State (44-7), 5:30 p.m.  Friday - Games at 1, 3:30 and 6 p.m.  Saturday - Games at 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (if necessary). 

NCAA West Regional #2 (at Seaside, Calif.): Friday - #5 Sonoma State (39-19) vs. #4 Humboldt State (41-17), 3p.m.; #1 Cal State Monterey Bay (47-10) vs. #8 Montana State Billings (29-21), 5:30 p.m.  Saturday - Games at 2 p.m., 4:30 and 7 p.m.  Sunday - Games at 3 p..m. and 5:30 p.m. (if necessary).