The Wash. U. Bears celebrate winning the Decatur regional baseball title, which will earn them a berth in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament. (Photo courtesy Wash. U. Athletics)

by Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

The Washington University men’s baseball team earned its first trip to the NCAA Division III World Series in school history on Sunday, by defeating Denison College, 2-0, in the regional championship game at Workman Family Field in Decatur, Ill.

The Bears, who have been ranked No. 1 in the country for the past six weeks, will remain that way heading into this weekend’s national championship tournament. The event, which will be played at Perfect Game Field in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, begins on Friday and will feature eight teams playing in two four-team mini-tournaments with the winners of each advancing to the D3 finals next week.

Wash. U. will first take on Johns Hopkins University in the World Series’ first game, Friday, June 4 at 10 a.m. The winner of that game will play the winner the top brackets other first round game, St. Thomas vs. Adrian, on Saturday for the right to advance to the winner’s bracket.

The loser of the Wash. U./Johns Hopkins game would immediately fall into the loser’s bracket and would play the loser of the St. Thomas/Adrian game in an elimination game Saturday morning.

Once one team eliminates the other three teams from its half of the bracket, it would advance to the championship finals to play the winner of the other bracket in a best two-of-three set beginning on June 7.

Wash. U., which has a record of 32-4, had never advanced further than regionals before this season.