Bleu Devils selected as No. 5 Seed in NAIA Tournament to take on No. 4 MidAmerica Nazarene

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The NAIA announced Thursday afternoon the 46-team field and pairings for the 2023 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round, and Dillard University Bleu Devils are headed to Shreveport, La.

The Bleu Devils, winners of the 2023 Hope Credit Union Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Baseball Championship, enter tournament play as the No. 5 seed in the Shreveport bracket and take on No. 4 MidAmerica Nazerene (Kan.) Monday, May 15 at 11 a.m. CT.

In its inaugural season, Dillard’s baseball program also finished as GCAC Regular Season Runner Up. The Bleu Devils had three players named All-GCAC Second Team and three named All-GCAC First Team. They are led on the mound by GCAC Pitcher of the Year and Tournament MVP, Jorge Guerra. At the helm of the Bleu Devils is GCAC Coach of the Year Trennis Grant.

The Bleu Devils (22-28, 13-5) have scored 332 runs on 381 hits this year, amassing 283 RBIs. They are coming off a 16-game month of April, ending the month with a .465 slugging percentage and 172 runs and 149 RBIs, their highest run totals in a month this season.

On the mound, Dillard’s pitchers struck out 296 batters this season, 109 of them coming in April. Guerra, a sophomore, is responsible for 80 of the Bleu Devils total strikeouts. All-GCAC First Team Relief Pitcher Dylan Scott has been Mr. Reliable this season. The freshman has a team-low 5.28 ERA in 17 appearances while tallying 38 strikeouts.

MidAmerican Nazarene (30-25, 19-13), making their sixth appearance in the NAIA tournament, enter Opening Round play after finishing Heart of America Conference Tournament Runner Up. The Pioneers have amassed 302 runs and 274 RBIs on 443 hits.

The 14th annual event takes place May 15-18 at 10 host sites nationwide. Six of the sites will feature five-team, double-elimination tournaments while the final four brackets will sport only four squads each.

The winners of all 10 Opening Round sites will head to Lewiston, Idaho for the 66th Annual Avista NAIA Baseball World Series running from May 26 – June 2. For more information on the World Series, click here.

For more information about Bleu Devils Baseball, visit dillardbleudevils.com.