NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament: A Comprehensive Overview

The NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament is an annual event that determines the NCAA Division III baseball champion. This tournament marks the culmination of the spring regular season.

History and Foundation

Founded in 1976, the tournament has been a staple of college baseball for 49 years.

Qualification and Bids

A total of 64 teams earned bids to the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships. Most of the 56 teams who qualify do so by winning an automatic bid that comes along with their conference's championship; others receive at-large bids. In 2024, 60 NCAA Division III college baseball teams were selected, with 41 earning automatic bids as conference champions and 19 earning at-large bids awarded by the NCAA Division III Baseball Committee. Bethany Lutheran University (Upper Midwest Athletic Conference) and Buena Vista University (American River Conference) secured automatic bids after winning its conference tournaments.

Tournament Format

The initial round consists of six- and eight-team regionals held at pre-selected sites in eight regions: New England, New York, Mid-Atlantic, South, Mideast, Midwest, Central, and West. Sixteen regional sites will have four teams competing. The four-team regionals will use a double-elimination format. The 16 teams advancing from regionals will compete in a two-team, best-of-three tournament at eight super regional sites on Friday-Saturday, May 23-24. Winners of the eight super regional tournaments will qualify for the double-elimination championship at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio from Friday-Thursday, May 30-June 5. In 2024, teams were divided into fourteen regionals of four teams, each of which conducted a double-elimination tournament, and two regionals of two teams, each of which conducted a best-of-five series.

Championship Locations

The event was formerly held at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, just outside of Appleton for 18 years until it left for Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa following the 2018 championships. The championship was held in Cedar Rapids four times beginning in 2019 and hosted by the American Rivers Conference. Cedar Rapids was set to only host until 2022, but was awarded the 2023 championships after 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19. The NCAA Division III National Championships will be hosted at the Lake County Captains Stadium from 2024-26. The winners of the 2025 NCAA DIII baseball championship was Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Ticketing Information

Fans have the opportunity to purchase tickets online or via cash at the door. If paying cash at the door, tickets are $20.00 per adult and $15.00 per youth/senior/student for an all-session pass. Tickets are $8.00 per adult and $6.00 per youth/senior/student for one day only. When purchasing online (with a electronic form of payment) there is a convenience fee applied at checkout. Online ticket prices will be $22.00 per adult and 16.75 per youth/senior/student for an all session pass. For one day only tickets, prices will be $9.00 per adult and $7.00 per youth/senior/student.

The 2024 Tournament

The 2024 NCAA Division III baseball tournament was the 48th edition of the NCAA Division III baseball tournament. In March 2024, Birmingham-Southern College announced that it would be closing on May 31 due to financial troubles. Despite this, they made it to the College World Series.