SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Summit League announced the bracket for the 2023 Baseball Championship Saturday following the conclusion of the regular season. Defending tournament champion Oral Roberts earned the No. 1 seed after winning the program’s 20th regular season title, while tournament host North Dakota State will be the No. 2 seed.
South Dakota State and Omaha round out the field as those two programs will be the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively for the second consecutive postseason.
The four-team tournament will be played May 24-27 at Newman Outdoor Field and feature the same quartet of squads for the third straight year. The double-elimination tournament starts Wednesday with the top-seeded Golden Eagles taking on the Mavericks, who earned the final spot by rallying for a 4-3 victory over Northern Colorado in Saturday’s series finale vs. the Bears. First pitch for game one of the tournament will be at 12:05 p.m. CT.
Oral Roberts brings a 43-11 overall mark and 15-game winning streak to Fargo after closing out the regular season with a series sweep of Western Illinois. The Golden eagles took the finale 12-0 in seven innings to finish League play with a 23-1 record.
NDSU, who is hosting the event for the first time in program history, will face a South Dakota State squad that just wrapped up a three-game series in Fargo. The Bison took the final two games of the series to finish the League campaign with a 16-7 record, while the Jackrabbits finished 13-11. NDSU and SDSU will play Wednesday at 6:05 p.m. CT.
The Golden Eagles have won 20 Summit League tournament titles during their program history, including the 2022 event as the No. 2 seed in Tulsa. NDSU has won two tournament titles with the first coming in 2014 and second in 2021. South Dakota State’s lone postseason title came in 2013, while Omaha also has one with that triumph coming in 2019.
Thursday’s action will feature two tilts with the losers of Wednesday’s games squaring off in game three at 12:05 p.m. CT, which will be the first elimination game of the event. The winners will play at 6:05 p.m. CT. Friday’s lone game will feature the loser of game three vs. the winner of game four at 4:05 p.m. CT.
First pitch for Saturday’s championship game will be at 1:05 p.m. CT with an if necessary game to follow approximately 30 minutes later. The Summit League Champion will earn the League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
