UW-La Crosse baseball looks to get back to College World Series, hosting first round of NCAA tourney at Copeland

A year after getting to the College World Series, the 16th-ranked UW-La Crosse baseball team is back in the NCAA tournament and hosting the first rounds.

The Eagles will host first one of 14 Division III regionals Saturday and Sunday at Copeland Park.

UW-L (31-13), which fell to No. 8 UW-Whitewater in the WIAC championship, was one of 19 teams to earn an at-large bid Monday.

Copeland will host four teams competing in a double-elimination tournament. Along with top-seeded UW-L is 24th-ranked Benedictine (32-12), Coe (29-14) and Bethel (23-14).

At 11 a.m. Saturday UW-L will play Bethel. The Eagles beat Bethel 8-1 the first game of the season in a Florida tournament back in March. They haven’t played the other two teams.

All-session tickets at Copeland are $20 for adults and $15 for youth/senior/students. Individual game tickets are $8 / $6. The front gate to Copeland will open one hour prior to the start of the first game.

Whoever loses between Bethel and UW-L will play the loser of Coe and Benedict at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

The championship will take place at 11 a.m. Sunday and 45 minutes after the conclusion of that game, if a second contest is necessary.

This is UW-L’s eighth NCAA tourney appearance. Last season, it went 3-1 in the regional, before beating UW-Stevens Point 2-1 in the super regional to qualify for the World Series.

The Eagles went 0-2 in getting eliminated from the World Series.