KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The NAIA has released the list of host sites for the 10th annual NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round. The 45-team event is scheduled for May 14 – 17 and features nine, five-team double elimination tournaments. Opening Round qualifiers and brackets will be announced Thursday, May 10, at 3 p.m. CDT on the NAIA Facebook page.

This year’s hosts are Bowling Green (Ky.) Convention and Visitors Bureau, Faulkner University (Ala.), Georgia Gwinnett College, Oklahoma City University, Placer Valley Tourism (Calif.) and William Jessup University (Calif.), Taylor University (Ind.), University of the Cumberlands (Ky.), Visit Kingsport (Tenn.), and William Carey (Miss.).

Faulkner, Georgia Gwinnett, Oklahoma City, Visit Kingsport and William Carey all hosted a 2017 opening round.

Visit Kingsport and Oklahoma City are both hosting an opening round for the eighth time, which is the most among the 2018 sites.

Last season, four of the nine host teams won their respective opening round. Overall, hosts have won 37-of-81 all-time opening rounds. Among active NAIA members, Faulkner boasts the most opening round titles with six – five of which came at the Eagles’ home stadium.

The Opening Round site selection process takes into account geography, facilities, student-athlete experience and host qualification. In the event that a selected bid is tied directly to an institution, that school is guaranteed at least an at-large host berth. The application deadline for bids was April 1.

The nine opening round champions and World Series host Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) make up the field for the 2018 Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series. The World Series, which is taking place at Harris Field for the 19th-consecutive season and 27th time overall, is scheduled to run from May 25 – June 1.

For the complete opening round schedule, click here.

For more information on the 2018 Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series, click here.

2018 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round Host Sites