The University of Southern Maine baseball team earned the No.2 seed in the NCAA Division III regional tournament that begins Wednesday at Whitehouse Field in Harwich, Massachusetts.

USM (31-12) is seeded behind only Eastern Connecticut, which won the Little East Conference championship by beating USM 6-5 on Saturday. The Huskies, ranked in the Top Ten nationally all season, earned an at-large bid.

Additional Photos

St. Joe's pitcher Nick Whittaker delivers a pitch as St. Joseph's baseball hosts Lasell College in Standish. in this April 24, 2014, photo. John Patriquin / Staff Photographer

USM's Troy Thibodeau is greeted with high fives after knocking a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning vs. Bowdoin in a Division III game April 18, 2014. Gabe Souza / Staff Photographer

St. Joseph’s College (28-13) earned the sixth seed in the tournament.

The Monks, who won the Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship for the fifth consecutive season, will play third-seeded Tufts University, which earned an at-large bid out of the New England Small College Athletic Conference with a 33-7 record, on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

USM will play 25-15 Worcester State, the champion of the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference, at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Eastern Connecticut (32-7) took the top seed, followed by USM, Tufts, Endicott College (30-14, Commonwealth Coast Conference champion), MIT (24-12, New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference champion), St. Joe’s, Worcester State and Mitchell College (23-12-1, New England Collegiate Conference champion).

This is a double-elimination tournament. The winner will advance to the NCAA Division III baseball championships at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin, on May 23-27.

USM and St. Joe’s could play each other on Thursday, depending on Wednesday’s results. If both lose on Wednesday, they would meet in an elimination game Thursday  at 1 p.m. If both win on Wednesday, they would play in a winner’s bracket game Thursday at 8 p.m.
 

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