St. Louis, Mo., May 26, 2021 – The No. 1 Washington University in St. Louis baseball team earned a Pool C at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. They will compete in Super Regionals in Decatur, Ill., hosted by Millikin University.
Each of the eight Division III regionals consist of six teams, with the winner of each advancing to the World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa June 4-9.
WashU (28-3) earned the No. 1 ranking in the D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 Poll six times and the No. 2 ranking in four of the 13 weeks this season.
This is the program's 13th NCAA Championship appearance with an all-time record of 10-24 in the NCAA Tournament.
Fong ranks third in Division III in saves (9) and ERA (0.50) among pitchers that have pitched over 20 innings and 17th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (10.33). Loutos is fourth in strikeouts (98), 14th in ERA (1.17) compared to pitchers with over 20 innings and 26th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.91). Bauer wraps up the pitchers at 27th in strikeouts per nine innings (13.14).
Van Kirk is 35th in stolen bases (21) and stolen bases per game (0.68). Durbin is the toughest batter to strike out in Division III with over 52 at bats.
WashU is ranked in the top-six of Division III in several categories, including first in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.97), third in ERA (2.03), walks allowed per nine innings (2.19), win-loss percentage (.903), and in WHIP (1.03) and sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.9) and fielding percentage (0.976).
The Bears hold a .301 batting average and a .383 on-base percentage.
No. 3 Webster (35-6) enters the tournament after winning the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship over the weekend. The Bears and Gorloks have matched up three times this season, with WashU recording two victories and Webster grabbing the final match-up. WashU leads the all-time series 47-17, including a 29-0 record from 1988-2003.
Denison (23-11), the automatic qualifier from the North Coast Athletic Conference, faced seven teams this season, including The College of Wooster, previously-ranked at No. 23. If the Big Red and Bears play each other this weekend, it will be the first time in program history.
Illinois College (21-17) from the Midwest Conference will play the Bears in game one on Thursday. The teams have matched up 44 times since 1985, with WashU leading the all-time series 31-13. The last game in 2015 resulted in a 4-2 win in favor of the Bears.
Millikin (31-14) is the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament winner and host school. The programs last met for a doubleheader in May 2017 with WashU claiming 13-1 and 5-4 victories. The Bears lead the all-time series 19-8.
Transylvania (31-10), the automatic qualifier from the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, enters the regional on a six-game winning streak. Just like Denison, this would be a first-time meeting with WashU.
Thursday, May 27 (Game times moved up due to forecast)
10 a.m. - No. 1 WashU vs. Illinois College (Game 1)
1 p.m. - No. 3 Webster vs. Transylvania (Game 2)
4 p.m. - Denison vs. Millikin (Game 3)
11 a.m. - Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 (Game 4)
2:30 p.m. - Winner of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 3 (Game 5)
6 p.m. - Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3 (Game 6)
The remainder of the schedule depends on how many teams are left after two days of play. The tournament format can be found by visiting the Super Regional Page linked above.
The tournament is open to the public with tickets costing five dollars per game. Tickets will go on sale each day starting one hour prior to the first game. Game times will be at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Thursday, 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday with Sunday's game times to be determined. The stands will be cleared following each game and no current spectator capacity limits are in place.
