MADISON, S.D.(PlayNorthStar.com) – The brackets for the 2018 North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) Postseason Baseball Tournament are set. Jamestown (N.D.) and Valley City State (N.D.) will be this year’s conference tournament host sites for the third consecutive year, with the opening round starting on Friday, May 4.
Top eight seeds advance to the NSAA Baseball Postseason Conference Tournament, which will feature two brackets—Bracket A and Bracket B—using a double-elimination within each bracket.
Mayville State (N.D.) (29-10 overall record, 17-3 NSAA conference record) is the top overall seed in the conference tournament and will play in Bracket A. The Comets wrapped up their North Star conference season with a 4-game series sweep over Valley City State (N.D.) to secure the regular-season outright title.
MSU is the defending North Star Baseball Postseason Conference Tournament Champion, defeating Jamestown (N.D.) 5-3 in the tournament’s title game last season.
Bracket A includes No. 4 seed Presentation (S.D.) (23-17 overall record, 14-8 NSAA), No. 5 seed Waldorf (Iowa) (20-28 overall record, 13-10 NSAA) and No. 8 seed Dakota State (S.D.) (4-30 overall record, 4-19 NSAA).
The first two days of the conference tournament in Bracket A will take place at Charlie Brown Stadium in Valley City, N.D. The remaining two teams in Bracket A will play on Sunday (at 2 p.m.) at Jack Brown Stadium in Jamestown, N.D. for a berth to the NSAA Postseason Tournament Championship game.
Bracket A tournament kicks off with Mayville State taking on Dakota State at 1 p.m., followed by Presentation-Waldorf match-up at 4 p.m.
Bellevue (Neb.) (33-21 overall record, 17-5 NSAA) is the No. 2 seed and will play in the Bracket B along with No. 3 seed Jamestown (N.D.) (39-7 overall record, 16-6 NSAA), No. 6 seed Viterbo (Wis.) (13-39 overall record, 10-13 NSAA) and No. 7 seed Valley City State (N.D.) (13-26 overall record, 7-15 NSAA).
All games in Bracket B will be played at Jack Brown Stadium in Jamestown. The final two remaining teams in Bracket B will play in Jamestown at 11 a.m. on Sunday for a berth to the NSAA championship game.
Bracket B opens up the tournament play with the Bruins taking on the Vikings at 1 p.m., followed by host-team Jimmies taking on the V-Hawks at 4 p.m.
The tournament continues on Saturday on both sites with a winner’s bracket game and a pair loser’s out games. First loser’s out game is set for 11 a.m., followed by a winner’s bracket game at 2 p.m. and another loser’s out game scheduled for 5 p.m.
There will be ‘if necessary’ games on Monday a team suffered its first loss in each bracket in Jamestown. If there was only one ‘if necessary’ game for either bracket, it will be played on Monday morning at 11 a.m. with the championship game set for 2 p.m.
If there were two ‘if necessary’ games for both bracket, Bracket A game will be played at 11 a.m., followed by Bracket B game at 2 p.m. Then, the NSAA conference championship game is slated for Monday at 5 p.m.
The tournament champion receives the NSAA’s automatic berth to the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round, which will be played on May 14-17 at nine different campus announced by the NAIA.
All games are nine (9) innings with 10-run mercy rule after 7 innings. There will be no 10-run rule in the championship game.
Dickinson State (N.D.) (3-30 overall record, 2-21 NSAA) did not advance to the North Star Baseball Postseason Conference Tournament.