Baseball Heads to Kingsport Bracket as No. 2 Seed in 2024 NAIA Baseball Opening Round

Kansas City, Mo.- The baseball program found out their destination for the 2024 NAIA Baseball National Championship Tournament Opening Round on Thursday. The team nabbed an automatic bid to the opening round by appearing in the 2024 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Baseball Tournament Championship Game, a game they won to give them their 15th AAC Tournament Title.

This marks the 15th consecutive time TWU has qualified for the NAIA Opening Round, being one of two programs to qualify for every opening round since its inception (LSU Shreveport).

The NAIA Baseball National Championship Open Round features 46 teams. The 15th annual event takes place May 13-16 at 10 host sites. Six of the sites will feature a five-team, double-elimination tournament; the final four brackets will sport only four squads in the double-elimination format. The winner of each opening round site will advance to the 67th annual Avista NAIA Baseball World Series in Lewiston, Idaho on May 24-31.

The path to the World Series begins in the Kingsport Bracket for the Bulldogs. Tennessee Wesleyan was named the No. 2 seed in the bracket. Visit Kingsport is hosting the four-team bracket and all the games will take place at Hunter Wright Stadium. Joining the Bulldogs in the bracket is the No. 1 seed Webber International University, No. 3 seed Columbia College (Mo.), and No. 4 seed Freed-Hardeman University. TWU will face the No. 3 seed, Columbia College (Mo.) on Monday at 11:00 a.m.

Tickets for the event are as follows: Single-day tickets ($10.00 - adults, $5.00 - students); Tournament Passes ($25.00 - adults, $12.00 - students). Children five and under are free. 

All games at the Kingsport Bracket will have live stats and live stream for free. The live stream of all the games will be hosted by the Southeast Sports Network and can be viewed here. Live statistics will be done through PrestoStats and can be seen at www.twbulldogs.com. All information regarding the Upland Bracket can be seen here.

Here is the complete list of teams at the Kingsport Bracket:

No. 1 seed Webber International University (42-12 overall; The Sun Conference; At-Large) | Schedule | Roster
No. 2 seed Tennessee Wesleyan (37-16 overall; Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament Champion ) | Schedule | Roster
No. 3 seed Columbia College (Mo.) (37-14 overall; American Midwest Conference; At-Large) | Schedule | Roster
No. 4 seed Freed-Hardeman University (30-18-1 overall; Mid-South Conference; At-Large) | Schedule | Roster

The tournament schedule for the double-elimination tournament can be seen below (Times TBA; All times EST):

May 13
Game 1 - Columbia College (Mo.) vs. Tennessee Wesleyan- 11:00 a.m.
Game 2 - Freed-Hardeman vs. Webber International- 3:00 p.m.

May 14
Game 3 - Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser- TBD
Game 4 - Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner- TBD

May 15
Game 5 - Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser- TBD
Game 6 - Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner- TBD

May 16
Game 7 - Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser (If Necessary)- TBD