Championship Web Site

SAUGET, Ill. - The North Atlantic Region champion Shippensburg University baseball team will be one of eight teams from across the nation who will make the trip to suburban St. Louis to compete for the 2008 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship at GCS Ballpark, home of the Frontier League's Gateway Grizzlies.

SIU Edwardsville and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, along with the village of Sauget and the Grizzlies, will co-host this year's Division II World Series at digitalballparks.com 2005 Ballpark of the Year which was built in 2002.

The eight teams will compete in a double-elimination tournament beginning Saturday, May 24 and concluding Saturday, May 31 with the championship game at 1:00 p.m., which will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports. 

Tickets for the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship are $40, which allows fans access to every game throughout the tournament, and are available through the Gateway Grizzlies by calling the ticket office at 618-337-3000 (ext. 15).

Opening ceremonies will officially kick off the Division II World Series on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., before the 24th-ranked Red Raiders take on No. 2-ranked Sonoma State in the first game at 2:30 p.m., local time, 3:30 p.m., Eastern.

After winning its four region championship in school history, Shippensburg (38-24) will be looking for its first-ever win at the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship after going 0-2 in each of its first three appearances in 1977, 1991 and 1996.

Every Shippensburg game in this year's championship will be broadcast live by Shippensburg University student radio station WSYC 88.7 FM and available through the internet at www.shipraiders.com by clicking on the Listen Live! banner.

Live stats for each game will also be available by clicking on the Live Stats link on the athletics web site.

Located in Rohnert Park, California, Sonoma State (50-13) advanced to this week's championship after defeating Chico State 11-4 to win the West Region. The Seawolves are making their first-ever appearance in the Division II World Series after going 4-0 in the NCAA West Region Championship.

Junior Ian Bridges leads Sonoma State with a .406 average, seven home runs and 53 RBIs and was named ABCA/Rawlings West Region Player of the Year on Tuesday after earning CCAA Player of the Year honors earlier this month.

For more information on the other six teams in this year's championship, please click here.

Tournament Schedule
Bracket

Saturday, May 24
G1:  Sonoma State (50-13) at Shippensburg (38-24) - 2:30 p.m.
G2:  Central Missouri (45-15) at Franklin Pierce (43-13) - 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 25
G3:  Ouachita Baptist (47-14) at Mount Olive (54-6) - 2:30 p.m.
G4:  Tampa (42-9-1) at Ashland (39-16) - 6:30 p.m.

Monday, May 26
G5:  Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 2:30 pm
G6:  Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner, 6:30 pm

Tuesday, May 27
G7:  Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser, 2:30 pm
G8:  Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner, 6:30 pm

Wednesday, May 28
G9:  Game 8 Loser vs. Game 7 Winner, 2:30 pm
G10:  Game 6 Loser vs. Game 5 Winner, 6:30 pm

Thursday, May 29
G11:  Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, 2:30 pm
G12:  Game 6 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner, 6:30 pm

Friday, May 30
G13:  TBA, if necessary
G14:  TBA, if necessary

Saturday, May 31
If both bracket winners are undefeated, there will be no games Friday and the championship will be Game 13.