Baseball: Falcons selected as No. 5 in Shreveport Bracket

Posted: May 12, 2022

Story written and posted by Anthony Perry '08, Fisher College Assistant Athletic Director/Sports Information

SHREVEPORT, LA. – The Fisher College Baseball team has been selected as the No. 5 seed for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Opening Round – Shreveport Bracket, a tournament taking place May 16-19 at Pilot Field in Shreveport, Louisiana. The 46-team field and pairings for the 2022 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round was announced Thursday, May 12 by the NAIA National Office. The 13th annual event takes place at 10 host sites, six of which will feature a five-team bracket while the remaining four host will have four-team brackets.

The field will consist of 31 automatic qualifiers – given to conference regular-season champions, tournament champions or tournament runner-ups – and 15 at-large teams. Conferences with 10-or-more members receive two automatic qualifiers, while conferences with less than 10 get one. At-large teams were determined by the NAIA Baseball National Selection Committee (NSC). The NSC is comprised of one representative from each geographical area, a representative from the National Administrative Council, a member of the NAIA-Baseball Coaches Association Executive Committee, and three at-large members. The committee evaluated teams throughout the season on various criteria.

The No. 5 Falcons will face No. 4 seed Loyola University (La.) in the first game of the Shreveport Bracket on Monday, May 16 at 11am CST. The winner will then move on to play the bracket host, No. 1 LSU-Shreveport at 6pm CST. Also joining the Shreveport Bracket is No. 2 University of Science & Arts (Oklahoma) and No. 3 Lyon College (Ark.), who will play each other at 2:30pm CST on Monday.

Games in the double-elimination bracket will continue on Tuesday, May 17th and Wednesday, May 18th, with the possibility of a (if necessary) game on Thursday, May 18th at 12pm CST. The bracket winner will advance to the 65th Avista NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho beginning on May 27th.

Fisher enters the 2022 Opening Round with a 29-28 overall record and finishing as the Continental Athletic Conference tournament runner-up. The second place finish secured the CAC's second automatic bid to the national tournament with CAC Champion, Georgia Gwinnett claiming the other AQ. The Falcons won their way into the postseason for second consecutive year after defeating both Edward Waters and Iowa Wesleyan in the conference tournament.

The bracket's top-seed, LSU-Shreveport is hosting the NAIA Opening Round for the third time since the NAIA adopted the format in 2009. The Pilots, winners of the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) regular season, are 47-5 on the season and was awarded one of the 15 at-large bids as the bracket host after losing two games in the RRAC tournament – to University of Houston-Victoria and University of the Southwest. LSUS will be looking for a return trip to Lewiston after advancing through the Williamsburg, Kentucky bracket in 2021.

University of Science & Arts (Okla.) is the bracket's No. 2 seed and earned an at-large bid as they make their eighth overall appearance in the Opening Round and sixth since 2016. This year saw USAO finish second in the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season and a runner-up finish in the conference tournament – falling to Oklahoma City University in the title game. The Drovers are currently ranked #14 in the latest NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll and own a 35-13 record. USAO is looking to head back to Lewiston for the first time since 2019.

The No. 3 seed is a familiar foe as Lyon College (Ark.) worked their way into the Opening Round with an automatic bid after clinching the American Midwest Conference regular-season and tournament championship. The Scots pieced together an impressive 2022 campaign with a 36-20 overall record that includes a four-game sweep of the Falcons, March 10-11 in Batesville. This will be Lyon's sixth appearance at the Opening Round as they vie for their first trip to the NAIA World Series in program history.

Rounding out the five team bracket is the No. 4 seed, Loyola University of New Orleans (La.). The Wolfpack, 33-22 overall, enter the 2022 Opening Round as an at-large team after a second place finish in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) regular-season. The team battled through the loser's bracket in the SSAC tournament where they ultimately fell in the semifinals to William Carey University. The Wolfpack are currently receiving votes for the Top 25 Coaches' Poll and are looking to make their first trip to the Avista NAIA World Series.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

All games and practices will be held at Pilot Field (1 University Place, Shreveport, LA 71115). Live Stats & Video of all games for the 2022 NAIA Opening Round – Shreveport Bracket will be free of charge courtesy of LSU-Shreveport Athletics. If you are attending the Opening Round – Shreveport Bracket, you can purchase tickets at www.lsusathletics.com/tickets

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Monday, May 16, 2022

Game 1 | No. 4 Loyola (La.) vs. No. 5 Fisher (Mass.) – 11 am CST
Game 2 | No. 2 Science & Arts (Okla.) vs. No. 3 Lyon (Ark.) – 2:30pm CST
Game 3 | No. 1 LSU-Shreveport vs. Winner of Game 1 – 6pm CST

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Game 4 | Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 – 11am CST
Game 5 | Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3 – 2:30pm CST
Game 6 | Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 – 6pm CST

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Game 7 | Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 5 – 11am CST
Game 8 | Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 7 – 2:30pm CST

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Game 9 | Winner of Game 8 vs. Loser of Game 8 – 11am CST *if necessary*

BY THE NUMBERS

Fisher has the following career records against the other four teams in the bracket:

No. 1, #4 LSU-Shreveport: 0-0
No. 2, #14 University of Science & Arts (Okla.): 0-0
No. 3, RV Lyon College (Ark.): 0-8
No. 4, RV Loyola University of New Orleans (La.): 0-0

Fisher also played one of the more challenging NAIA schedules in the country as four of their six NAIA opponents this season were selected to the 2022 NAIA Opening Round:

#10 Georgia Gwinnett College – No. 2 seed in the Lawrenceville Bracket (10 games)
#20 Freed-Hardeman University (Tenn.) – No. 2 seed in the Oklahoma City Bracket (2 games)
RV Lyon College (Ark.) – No. 3 seed in the Shreveport Bracket (4 games)
RV Point Park University (Pa.) – No. 4 seed in the Lawrenceville Bracket (2 games)

This will be Fisher's sixth appearance in the NAIA post-season and second since the NAIA adopted the Opening Round format before the start of the 2009 season:

2005 | East Coast Super Regionals @ Ohio Dominican University
2006 | East Coast Super Regionals @ Seton Hill University (Pa.)
2007 | East Coast Super Regionals @ Walsh University (Ohio)
2008 | East Coast Super Regionals @ Ohio Dominican University
2021 | NAIA Opening Round – Lakeland, Fla. Bracket
2022 | NAIA Opening Round – Shreveport, La. Bracket

FOR THE RECORD

Fisher College Baseball will play their 1,000th game in program history at the 2022 NAIA Opening Round on Monday, May 16 against Loyola (La.) at Pilot Field in Shreveport, Louisiana. Over the previous 999 games, the program has:

Scott Dulin has been the Head Baseball Coach at Fisher College since the birth of the department in the summer of 2001. He owns a career coaching record of 577-452-2 with 21 years at Fisher and 2 years (2000, 2001) at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS

Facebook | Fisher College Baseball
Twitter | @Fisher_BASE
Insagram | @Fisher_BASE