ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley College baseball team is ready to begin NCAA Tournament play, as the club will take on the University of Lynchburg in the first round at 11 a.m. on Friday. The Dutchmen are competing in the regional hosted at North Carolina Wesleyan University's Bauer Field in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Lebanon Valley is coming off an impressive campaign, in which the team went 28-15-1 and won its second consecutive Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Commonwealth Championship. The program recently received recognition for its excellence on the diamond, garnering two MAC Commonwealth major awards and nine All-MAC Commonwealth selections. Shortstop Nico Santoro has helped lead the way this spring, hitting .420 and setting the program's single-season hits record with 71 knocks. This production at the plate and stellar defense earned Santoro conference Player of the Year honors. Head coach Jonas Fester was also acknowledged, winning the Coach of the Year award for the second season in a row.

The Flying Dutchmen have been playing their best baseball as of late, winning their last eight games with four consecutive victories in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. The club swept York College of Pennsylvania in the conference semifinals, capping off the series with a dramatic 5-4 victory courtesy of a Logan Brewer walk-off home run. LVC also swept Alvernia University in the conference championship series, which included a comeback 6-4 win in game one.

Lebanon Valley will look to continue its winning ways on Friday, as the team will attempt to put an end to Lynchburg's five-game winning streak. The Hornets just wrapped up a 38-6 season, winning the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) championship in the process. The team secured the title with an 11-9 victory over Shenandoah University on May 13.The first-round NCAA matchup will be the first time that the Dutchmen and Hornets have met in the history of the programs.

The tournament-opening regional is double elimination, which ensures the clubs will play at least two games this weekend. The winner of LVC and Lynchburg will advance to take on the winner of North Carolina Wesleyan and Elizabethtown College on Friday, with first pitch of round two set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Alternatively, the teams that drop each of these contests will face off at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Stay Connected
Be sure to follow @lvcathletics on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for the most in-depth coverage of LVC Athletics.