Ravens open play at 11 a.m. on Thursday against St. Thomas Aquinas at Pappas Field

NCAA East Regional Championship Central
NCAA.com selection announcement (PDF)
NCAA Championship Regional brackets (PDF)
Archived selection show video 

RINDGE, N.H. (May 10, 2015) – The No. 1/3 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University baseball team has been named as the top seed and host of the NCAA Championship East Regional, as announced Sunday night by the NCAA. The Ravens, the Northeast-10 Conference champion, earned the league's automatic bid in the six-team, double-elimination tournament, which will run Thursday, May 14 through Sunday, May 17 at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field in Rindge. Franklin Pierce will open pursuit of its seventh regional crown at 11 a.m. on Thursday against sixth-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas.

Franklin Pierce will host the tournament for the seventh time in the 11 seasons since Pappas Field opened to start the 2005 campaign, as the institution also hosted regional play in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011. The Ravens are a six-time NCAA Regional champion (2013, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2003) including four regional titles the team won on its home field.

Each of the six teams will play its first game on Thursday. In addition to the Franklin Pierce (46-2) game against defending East Regional champion St. Thomas Aquinas (27-17-1), second-seeded Stonehill (33-13-1) will face fifth-seeded Dowling (27-15) and third-seeded Southern New Hampshire (30-12) will play fourth-seeded Wilmington (Del.) (33-12). The East Regional returns to Pappas Field this spring after a three-year excursion to SNHU's Penmen Field.

Thursday's schedule has Franklin Pierce opening its 11th straight NCAA Championship appearance, and 12th overall, against St. Thomas Aquinas in Thursday's first game, at 11 a.m., to start off the tournament. The Ravens would then be succeeded by Stonehill vs. Dowling at 3 p.m. and SNHU vs. Wilmington at 7 p.m. A full schedule has been added at the bottom of this story.

***UPDATE (7 p.m. Monday): Tickets will be available at the main entrance to Pappas Field throughout each day of the East Regional. Ticket prices are $8 for adults, $5 for children and seniors, and $5 for college students with their institutional IDs. Children under two-years-old will be admitted free of charge. Per NCAA policy, no complimentary admissions will be issued.***

From there, three games will be played Friday, with one winners' bracket game, one losers' bracket game and one game which will feature both a first-day winner and a first-day loser. Saturday will feature three games as well, while Sunday is scheduled for either one or two games, depending on how the rest of the tournament plays out.

Franklin Pierce, Wilmington and St. Thomas Aquinas all received automatic bids to the tournament as champions of the Northeast-10 Conference, Central Collegiate Athletic Conference and East Coast Conference, respectively. Meanwhile, Stonehill and SNHU from the Northeast-10, along with Dowling from the ECC, all earned at-large selections. Five of the six teams also participated in last year's East Regional, as only Stonehill did not qualify for the 2014 edition of the event at Penmen Field. The Skyhawks replace Felician, which participated a year ago, but did not qualify in 2015.

Franklin Pierce and St. Thomas Aquinas did not meet in the regular season this spring and have not played since 2011, when the two split a March 17 doubleheader in Boca Raton, Fla. The Ravens hold a 3-2 record in five all-time meeting with the Spartans, though all five games took place in Florida, as the two have only ever played each other during spring break trips to the Sunshine State. Thursday will mark the first-ever postseason meeting between the two clubs.

The winner of the East Regional will advance to the NCAA Championship National Finals, scheduled for May 23-30 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. Seven other regional tournaments will be conducted this week, with each sending its champion to Cary as well; the East Region champion will square off against the Southeast Region champion in its opener.

NCAA Baseball Championship East Regional
Hosted by Franklin Pierce University
Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field (Rindge, N.H.)
Double elimination 

Thursday, May 14
Game 1: (1) Franklin Pierce vs. (6) St. Thomas Aquinas - 11 a.m.
Game 2: (2) Stonehill vs. (5) Dowling - 3 p.m.
Game 3: (3) Southern New Hampshire vs. (4) Wilmington - 7 p.m.

Friday, May 15
Game 4: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser - 11 a.m.
Game 5: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 3 Loser - 3 p.m.
Game 6: Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner - 7 p.m.

If four teams remain after game 6, the following schedule will be used:
Saturday, May 16
Game 7: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner - 3 p.m.
Game 8: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser - 6:30 p.m.
Game 9: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 7 Loser - 10 p.m.

Sunday, May 17
Game 10: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner - 1 p.m.
Game 11: Game 10 rematch* - 5 p.m.
* Game 11 only necessary if Game 9 Winner wins Game 10.
----
If five teams remain after Game 6, the following schedule will be used:
Saturday, May 16
Game 7: Game 5 Loser vs. Game 6 Loser - 3 p.m.
Game 8: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner - 6:30 p.m.
Game 9: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner - 10 p.m.

If two teams remain after Game 9, the following schedule will be used:
Sunday, May 17
Game 10: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner - 1 p.m.
Game 11: Game 10 rematch* - 5 p.m.
* Game 11 only necessary if Game 8 Winner wins Game 10.

If three teams remain after Game 9, the following schedule will be used:
Sunday, May 17
Game 10: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 9 Loser - 1 p.m.
Game 11: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner - 5 p.m.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce baseball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).