The University of Scranton baseball team that won the Landmark Conference over the weekend learned its first opponent in the NCAA Division III tournament Monday.
The Royals (28-15) will face Bridgewater (Va.) College (33-13) in the double-elimination format in the Washington and Jefferson regional in Washington, Pa, on Friday at 11 a.m.
Bridgewater received an at-large bid after falling in the elimination game of the Old Dominion Athlete Conference tournament to eventual champion Shenandoah.
The other teams in the regional are host Washington and Jefferson (32-11) and the University of Chicago (27-13). Washington and Jefferson won the President’s Athletic Conference with an 11-2 victory over Grove City, while Chicago won the University Athletic Association by sweeping New York University.
Winners of the 16 regional tournaments qualify for eight, best-of-three series at the super regionals, May 22-23. The eight super regional winners advance to the double-elimination World Series May 29-June 4 at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake Ohio.
Scranton gained an automatic berth in the tournament by winning the Landmark with a 4-2 victory over Elizabethtown on Sunday. It is the third Landmark title for the Royals (2021, 2024).
Conor Campbell leads Scranton with a .397 batting average (73 for 184) and 41 runs. He has 10 doubles, two triples, 37 RBIs and is 10 for 14 on stolen base attempts.
Jared Cassella (.330), Joey Granko (.324) and John Heitzman (.316) are also top contributors.
Heitzman leads the team in doubles (14), triples (4), home runs (4) and stolen bases (14). Cassella has 10 stolen bases, Granko has three HRs, 38 RBIs and nine stolen bases.
Bridgewater is led by Bryce Suters, who is batting .392 (69 for 176) with 20 doubles, eight home runs and 52 RBIs. Zack Chadwell, who is batting .328, leads the team with 14 home runs and 69 RBIs, while Ashton Smith is batting .308 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs.
Chandler Valbak is hitting .365, Nick Stavros is batting .361 and Bransen Hensley is hitting .342 for the Eagles.
Evan Bert is the team’s top starting pitcher with a 7-4 mark, a 3.91 ERA, a 1.28 WHIP, 73 strikeouts and 38 walks in 73.2 innings. Opponents are batting .217 against the 6-foot right-hander.