The NCAA (Natiinal Collegiate Athletic Association) Division III baseball tournament selection committee announced the super regional host sites Monday, May 22 for the 2023 NCAA Division III Championships. The Aurora University Spartans, who swept visiting John Carroll University, 3-0, in the best of five regional series at Jim Schmid Field in Montgomery, will be host to Baldwin Wallace University of Berea, Ohio.
Aurora, 42-4 overall, will make its 25th appearance overall and fifth consecutive Division III baseball regional appearance and first in the super regional. The teams will play game one in the best of three-game series, Friday, May 26 with the first pitch at noon. The teams will play one game or two Saturday, May 27, depending on the series standing with first-pitch of game one at 11 a.m.. Game three of the series would start 45 minutes after the end of the first game.
The Aurora Spartans and BWU share two common opponents in the University of Mount Union and John Carroll University. AU is 4-0 against the two opponents and Baldwin Wallace is 2-3. Baldwin Wallace, 34-10 overall, won the Denison Regional championship with a 3-0 record by defeating Spaulding University and beating host Denison twice to advance to the super regional.
The Spartans earned their place in the 2023 NCAA Division III Championships after winning the 2023 Northern Athletics Conference (NACC) regular season and tournament championships.
The Spartans as a team the Spartans are hitting .326 and have scored 451 runs with 52 home runs, 16 triples, and 98 doubles. They rank among the best in Division III in almost all statistical categories. As a pitching staff, the Spartans have a 4.04 earned run average and opponents hit .267 against them. As a defensive team, the Spartans are fielding .979 and have committed 34 errors in 46 games.
Baldwin Wallace earned its place in the 2023 NCAA Division III Championship field by an at-large bid and won the 2023 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) regular-season championship. As a team BW is hitting .333 and has scored 394 runs with 38 home runs, 10 triples, and 107 doubles. As a pitching staff, BW has a 4.38 earned run average and opponents hit .249 against it. As a fielding team, BW has .970 and has committed 51 errors in 44 games.
—Aurora University