NAPERVILLE, IL – NJIT is seeded seventh overall and will play in Pool 2 of the inaugural Great West Conference Baseball Tournament, set to begin on Wednesday in Edinburg, TX, hosted by Texas-Pan American, the conference office announced.
All games will be played at Edinburg Baseball Stadium, a 4,000-seat ballpark that opened in 2001 and houses independent minor league baseball in addition to UTPA's team.
NJIT's first game is scheduled for 4 pm (CDT) against Northern Colorado, the second seed overall and the top seed in NJIT's pool. Northern Colorado (22-6 in the Great West regular season) beat NJIT all four times when they played during the regular season.
Utah Valley, the regular season champion, headlines Pool 1 and enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed with a near flawless conference mark of 26-2. Joining the Wolverines on the same side of the pool are: No. 4 seed Houston Baptist (15-13), No. 5 seed North Dakota (13-15) and No. 8 seed Chicago State (2-26).
Joining NJIT and Northern Colorado in Pool 2 are NYIT, the No. 3 seed, which finished the regular season with a 15-13 conference record and tournament host Texas-Pan American, which had the same conference record as NJIT at 9-18.
Each team will play the other three in their respective pool, with the champions of each pool advancing to a single-game championship on Saturday at 5 pm.
Pool 1: (1) Utah Valley, (4) Houston Baptist, (5) North Dakota, (8) Chicago State
Pool 2: (2) Northern Colorado, (3) NYIT, (6) Texas-Pan American, (7) NJIT
Wednesday, May 26
9:00 am - (5) North Dakota at (4) Houston Baptist
12:30 pm - (8) Chicago State at (1) Utah Valley
4:00 pm - (7) NJIT at (2) Northern Colorado
7:30 pm - (6) Texas-Pan American at (3) NYIT
Thursday, May 27
9:00 am - (4) Houston Baptist at (8) Chicago State
12:30 pm - (1) Utah Valley at (5) North Dakota
4:00 pm - (3) NYIT at (7) NJIT
7:30 pm - (2) Northern Colorado at (6) Texas-Pan American
Friday, May 28
- All home teams on Friday will be determined by coin toss (Higher seeded team will call)
9:00 am - (5) North Dakota vs. (8) Chicago State
12:30 pm - (1) Utah Valley vs. (4) Houston Baptist
4:00 pm - (2) Northern Colorado vs. (3) NYIT
7:30 pm -(6) Texas-Pan American vs. (7) NJIT
Saturday, May 29
5:00 pm - Pool 1 Champion vs. Pool 2 Champion
* All game times are Central Time and are approximate, with 30-minute breaks between games
