Baseball Top Seed in East! Host of Three-Team Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS, IN. – Thomas Jefferson University baseball was selected as the top-team in the NCAA East Region Bracket and will play host to the three-team elimination portion of the Tournament, as announced by the NCAA Committee Monday night.
Jefferson (38-15) makes their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in school history and in back-to-back seasons. The Rams were put at No.18 through the NCBWA Top-25 poll. Jefferson will host their side of the bracket at Weiland Park, which resides in DeSales University.
The Rams will face the winner of #4 Goldey-Beacom College (34-19) and #5 Franklin Pierce University (31-19). Jefferson comes into the tournament with the most wins in program history as well as the nation's leader in sacrifice bunt (67) and stolen bases (231) while being fifth in On-Base Percentage (45.9%) and sixth in Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings (8.26).
The Lightning make their automatic bid and their fourth NCAA appearance since 2017. They have followed suit with Jefferson as a constant team in the top-25 of the NCBWA national poll. Goldey-Beacom has faced the Rams four times this year, with Jefferson getting the better of the Lightning 3-1 this season. Goldey-Beacom climbs to the national ranks in stolen bases as well, being 14th in the nation with 147 stolen bases as they average 2.77 per game, ranking them 19th in Division II
The Rams have similar experience with Franklin Pierce, going against them early in March to start the year. Jefferson also went 4-0 against the Ravens. Franklin Pierce bounced back from their defeat to the Rams and ended up being the runners-up to the NE10 title to eventual champion Pace University. The Ravens are ranked fourth in the nation in Strikeouts Per Nine Innings with a 9.6 average. They are 15th in homeruns (76) and 13th in homeruns-per-game (1.52) on the year
THE MATCHUPS
Thursday, May 15
Game One – #5 Franklin Pierce vs #4 Goldey-Beacom
Game Two – Loser of Game One vs #1 Jefferson
Friday, May 16
Game Three – Winner of Game One vs Winner/Loser of Game Two
Saturday, May 17
Game Four – TBD vs TBD
Game Five *if necessary* – TBD vs TBD
