GRAND RAPIDS, Mich -- The 6th-ranked Davenport baseball team will be the host school for the opening round of the NAIA baseball tournament that begins on Tuesday.
The Panthers (48-9) are the 2-seed in the 5-team regional that also includes 7th-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan (46-12) who is the top seed in the regional.
DU will open play Tuesday at 3 p.m. against Mount Vernon Nazarene (37-10) who is the 3-seed.
"Playing at home and the comforts of your own home, your own field that you are comfortable with and we've had some pretty good success here is a good thing for sure" Davenport head coach Kevin Tidey said.
Corey Murphy will start the game on the mound for the Panthers, the junior from West Catholic has been the teams ace most of the year, he has won 7 games this season and has an e.r.a just over two.
"It's important to come out strong we gotta pick up that first game and start the tournament off with a win, if we do that and keep playing well and hit the ball, we've got extra arms I know Murphy is going game one so just ride his back for a little bit and take it from there" senior first baseman and pitcher Brendan Bender said.
