Baseball 5/9/2014 10:19:00 PM

Stars compete in NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round Jackson Bracket

OCU meets host Belhaven at 2:30 p.m. CDT Monday in Jackson, Miss.

Forrest Smith has pounded an NAIA-high 17 home runs this year.

JACKSON, Miss. – Oklahoma City University starts play in the NAIA Baseball Championship Opening Round Jackson Bracket against host Belhaven (Miss.) at 2:30 p.m. Monday at Smith-Willis Stadium.
The 16th-ranked Stars drew the second seed in the five-team double-elimination tournament. The victor in the tournament captures a berth in the NAIA World Series on May 23-30 in Lewiston, Idaho.
Oklahoma City (35-17) contends with third-ranked Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament champion Oklahoma Wesleyan (52-6), Belhaven (40-19), Sterling (Kan.) (39-18) and Houston-Victoria (23-31) in the Jackson Bracket. Tournament games will be broadcast on live video stream and able to be followed on live stats.
The Stars qualified for the NAIA Championship Opening Round for the sixth consecutive year after reaching the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship game. OCU boasts of three first-team all-conference performers – catcher Connor Lynch, pitcher Chris Pike and first baseman Forrest Smith.
Lynch, a junior from Marietta, Ga., has compiled a .771 slugging percentage to rank second among the NAIA. Lynch sports a .389 average, 18 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs and 45 RBIs.
Pike, a senior right-hander from Southampton, N.Y., pulled off the improbable by tossing a perfect game and no-hitter in consecutive starts March 7 and 14. He ranks third in the NAIA with 117 strikeouts and has a 10-2 record, 1.74 earned run average, seven complete games and three shutouts in 82.2 innings pitched.
Smith, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif., tops the NAIA with 17 homers. Smith is hitting .358 with 13 doubles, two triples and 53 RBIs. Oklahoma City leads the NAIA with 1.058 homers per game while ranking second with 477 batters struck out and sixth with a .489 slugging percentage. To see how the Stars rate among the national leaders, click here.
The nine Opening Round champions will join host Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) to comprise the World Series field.
The Opening Round field consists of 31 automatic qualifiers and 14 at-large berths. Automatic qualification is given to conference regular-season champions, conference tournament champions or conference tournament runners-up, depending on the league. Conferences with 10 or more members receive two automatic qualifiers, while leagues with less than 10 are given one. At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
Twelve programs within the field are making their first appearance at the Opening Round, while three teams – Embry-Riddle (Fla.), LSU Shreveport (La.) and Oklahoma City – have played in every event since the format was established in 2009.
Brackets for the Opening Round are based upon the following prioritized criteria: geographical location of teams, financial consideration and the final regular-season NAIA baseball coaches' top 25 poll released earlier Friday. Every attempt is made to not pair institutions within the same conference, Association of Independents or unaffiliated group, however this may be unavoidable in certain circumstances.

NAIA Championship Opening Round
Jackson Bracket
At Jackson, Miss.
Smith-Willis Stadium
Monday's Games
Game 1: Houston-Victoria vs. Sterling (Kan.), 11 a.m.
Game 2: Oklahoma City at Belhaven (Miss.), 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Oklahoma Wesleyan, 6 p.m.
Tuesday's Games
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 11 a.m.
Game 5: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3, 2:30 p.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3, 6 p.m.
Wednesday's Games
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 5, 2:30 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 7, 6 p.m., championship
Thursday's Game
Game 9: If necessary, 1 or 6 p.m.

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