Whitworth baseball team hosting NCAA DIII regional at Avista

Whitworth has been awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship tournament, the NCAA announced Monday morning, and is a host school.

Whitworth (29-11) is the fourth-seeded team in the six-team Spokane Regional, a double-elimination tournament that will be held at Avista Stadium from Wednesday through Saturday.

First-round pairings are top-seeded Trinity (Texas) (35-7) against sixth-seeded Pacific Lutheran (26-17) at noon, followed by second-seeded Cal Lutheran (31-11) against fifth-seeded University of Texas-Tyler (30-17). Whitworth is scheduled to take on Case Western Reserve (26-13) at 6:30.

Whitworth will make its third appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament, and first by way of an at-large bid. The Pirates won their first outright Northwest Conference regular-season title since joining NCAA Division III in 2016, but needed an at-large bid after Pacific Lutheran won the NWC tournament.

The 2016 Division III tournament consists of 56 teams at eight regional sites being held from Wednesday through Sunday. There were 40 automatic bids awarded to conference champions.

Four regionals are six-team tournaments while the other four each have eight teams. Champions of each regional will advance to the Division III World Series, held May 27 through June 2 in Appleton, Wisconsin.