BABSON PARK, Fla. (May 10, 2019) – The No. 19 Webber International University baseball team is headed to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round for the third year in a row and for the third time in program history. This time around, the Warriors were placed in the Kingsport bracket in northeast Tennessee as the No. 2 seed, and will square off against No. 3 seed Campbellsville University on Monday, May 13.

The seeding for the Kingsport bracket, hosted by Visit Kingsport and the Appalachian Athletic Conference, is as follows:
1. No. 2 Tennessee Wesleyan (48-8) – Appalachian Pool A Winner
2. No. 19 Webber International (Fla.) (36-20) – At-Large
3. Campbellsville (Ky.) (31-18) – Mid-South Tournament Champion
4. Madonna (Mich.) (35-20) – Wolverine-Hoosier Tournament Runner-Up
5. Marian (Ind.) (30-19) – Crossroads League Tournament Champion

The 45-team and 11th annual NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round will take place from Monday, May 13, to Thursday, May 16, and features nine, five-team double elimination tournaments. Three games will be played on each of the first two days with the bracket championship being played on the third day with the "if necessary" game on May 16.

No. 2-seeded Webber will start its quest to reach its first ever NAIA World Series by squaring off against No. 3-seeded Campbellsville, which enters the Opening Round for the ninth time in its history after winning the Mid-South Conference Tournament. The Warriors of Webber and the Tigers of Campbellsville met up for two neutral games in Mississippi early in the 2018 season as Webber was victorious in both games, winning by scores of 7-1 and 4-2.

"I'm excited for our guys to get another opportunity to punch their ticket to the World Series by being selected to the opening round," said Webber's Head Baseball Coach Brad Niethammer. "We have some very good teams to compete against in Kingsport and look forward to the challenge."

The Kingsport bracket will in all feature three conference tournament champions as Tennessee Wesleyan won the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament and Marian won the Crossroads League Tournament. Tennessee Wesleyan, which matched No. 1 Southeastern University with the most wins out of all teams in this year's opening round with 48, is also back in the opening round for a record 11th season in a row, and is one of only two teams to participate in the opening round every year since the format was established in 2009.

Webber was one of four teams from The Sun Conference to advance to the National Championship Opening Round. No. 1 Southeastern is headed to the Macon bracket, hosted by Middle Georgia State University, as a No. 1 seed while both No. 6 St. Thomas University (No. 1 seed) and Sun Conference Tournament Champion Thomas University (No. 5 seed) will compete in St. Thomas' home ballpark in the Miami Gardens bracket.

Webber has been seeded No. 2 during all three of its appearances in the NAIA Opening Round. Last season in 2018, the Warriors went 2-2 but fell to third-seeded Indiana Tech twice in extra innings during their very first game and their last game of the opening round. In 2017, Webber was again the No. 2 seed in its bracket, and kicked off its first-ever trip to the National Championship with a two-hit, 3-0 shutout victory over third-seeded Central Methodist University before ultimately falling in its final two games of the season, dropping a 14-12 high scoring affair against The Master's University and a close one-run 7-6 decision against top-seeded Georgia Gwinnett College.

Should the Warriors win their bracket and advance to their first ever NAIA World Series, they will join nine other teams in Lewiston, Idaho, for the week-long Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series, hosted by Lewis-Clark State College, starting on Friday, May 24, and going until Friday, May 31.