INDIANAPOLIS (Baseball) – Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Commonwealth and MAC Freedom automatic qualifiers, Messiah and Arcadia, were two of the 64-teams named as part of the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship field on Monday during the NCAA.com Selection Show.

In addition to the two MAC schools, 39 other conferences sent their champions as automatic qualifiers with the 23 other spots selected at-large.

The tournament begins in regional play starting on Friday, May 16. The four-team regionals will use a double-elimination format.

The Falcons were the No. 1 seed in the MAC Commonwealth Baseball Championship Tournament and finished the regular season with a 31-14 (18-3 MAC Commonwealth) record. They earned a sweep over Widener in their best-of-three semifinal series to earn a spot in the MAC Commonwealth Championship Series. After dropping game one to No. 2 seed York, Messiah picked up two decisive victories in games two and three to earn the league’s automatic bid.

Messiah will be part of the Randolph-Macon Regional, hosted by the Yellow Jackets in Ashland, Va. The Falcons face off against the hosts to open tournament play.

Arcadia had a more difficult path to the NCAA Tournament as it played both of its MAC Freedom postseason series on the road as the No. 3 seed. However, the travel wasn’t a problem for the Knights as they swept No. 2 seed Misericordia in the semifinals before taking two straight from No. 1 seed Stevens in the championship. The Knights went 28-15 (14-7 MAC Freedom) this year.

Arcadia will participate in a regional hosted by No. 17/18 Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio. The Knights will play No. 14/15 Centre in the opener.

The winners of the 16 regionals will advance to play in the super regionals on Friday-Saturday, May 23-24. The final eight teams will then travel to Eastlake, Ohio at Classic Auto Group Park for the final double-elimination round from Friday, May 30 to Thursday, June 5.