The 2018 NAIA baseball tournament was the 62nd edition of the NAIA baseball championship. The 46-team tournament began on May 14 with Opening Round games across nine different sites and concluded with the 2018 NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho that began on May 25 and ended on May 31. Southeastern (FL) defeated Freed–Hardeman (TN) 6–3 in the championship game for their first title in program history and becoming the most recent team to win the NAIA baseball championship in their first World Series appearance. This was also the most recent championship game in which both teams were making their very first NAIA World Series appearance.
The 46 participating teams were selected from all eligible NAIA teams with the World Series host receiving an automatic bid to the NAIA World Series. The remaining 45 teams participated in the Opening Round with 31 teams being awarded automatic bids as either champions and/or runners-up of their conferences, and 14 teams were selected at-large by the National Selection Committee. Teams were then placed into one of nine pre-determined Opening Round sites of five teams a piece, each of which is conducted via a double-elimination tournament. The winners of each of the Opening Round sites plus the World Series host team participated in the NAIA World Series.
Tournament procedure
A total of 46 teams entered the tournament. As World Series host, Lewis–Clark State received an automatic bid into the NAIA World Series. 31 automatic bids were determined by either winning their conference's regular season championship, conference tournament, and/or conference tournament runner-up. The other 14 bids were at-large, with selections determined by the NAIA Baseball National Selection Committee.[1]
Opening round hosts
On May 1, the NAIA announced the nine opening round host sites, which were played from May 14–17.[2]
WP: Eddie Jimenez (3–0) LP: Jared Humphry (8–4) Sv: Heibert Romero (7) Home runs: SEU: Ivan Nunez (7) FHU: Josh Sears (21), De'Mikyle Holmes (5) Attendance: 1115 Umpires: HP: Grant Henderson, 1B: Jason Werle, 2B: Mike Thomas, 3B: Jeff Kopecky, LF: Will Prestwood, RF: Andy Joseph Boxscore