Following a 32-10 season, which matched the single season school record for victories, the Benedictine University baseball team has received an at-large (Pool C) invite to the 2013 NCAA Division III Championships. Just 14 schools nationwide receive a Pool C bid.

Benedictine opens play on Wednesday at UW-Whitewater against UW-Stevens Point. Benedictine is the five seed and downed Stevens Point 13-5 in Florida on March 22 this season. The Pointers won the WIAC Tournament and are the second seed. Other entrants are at UW-Whitewater are top seeded St. Thomas, third seeded UW-Whitewater, fourth seeded Case Western, and sixth seeded St. Scholastica.

The bid marks the first for Benedictine since 2003 and the eighth under 41st year head coach John Ostrowski, who won his 900th career game last season.

The Eagles enter the tournament despite dropping back-to-back games in the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament on Saturday which denied an opportunity at the automatic berth. The conference has two teams in the field as Concordia Chicago has also received a bid.

The 2013 slate has seen Benedictine put together strong results against a tough schedule. The Eagles own two wins over Concordia Chicago in addition to the victory over UW-Stevens Point. Another key non-conference win came late in the year with a 5-4 comeback victory over regionally ranked Washington University in a neutral site game at Illinois Wesleyan. Benedictine faced just two teams with losing records in the non-conference slate and posted a 17-5 mark in the Northern Athletics Conference, good for a second place tie.

Benedictine has been among the national leaders for a majority of the season. The most recent NCAA statistical rankings have Benedictine slotted second in batting average and third in runs scored. Individually, Tim Hendricks was selected as the Northern Athletics Conference Position Player of the Year and Chris Jordan earned the conference's Pitcher of the Year award.

Benedictine owns three six-game win streaks this season and enters the tournament with wins in 18 of the last 22 contests. The Eagles appeared in each of the NCAA Midwest Region rankings with a low of sixth in the first poll and a high of third in the last two polls leading to the selections today.

The baseball team is the third program from Benedictine to appear in the NCAA Championships this season joining the volleyball and softball teams. Baseball is looking to become the first program to win in NCAA play this year, volleyball lost in four sets to Chicago while softball nearly upset Illinois Wesleyan before bowing out to UW-Eau Claire.