INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The same two schools that carried the ODAC banner in the Division III Baseball Championship field in 2024 are back for another run in 2025, as announced by the NCAA on Monday afternoon. Conference champion University of Lynchburg and runner-up Randolph-Macon College return to the bracket one year following both schools qualifying for the final round in Ohio.
The ODAC's run of multiple entries in the baseball bracket reaches 4 seasons since Lynchburg was the lone school to qualify in 2021. The Hornets are making their fifth straight and 14th overall appearance on the national stage, having won the Division III crown in 2023. Randolph-Macon is in the field for a third consecutive year and eighth time overall.
Championships in Division III feature a few changes in 2024-25 starting with a bracket increase for several sports. Baseball increased from 60 teams in 2024 to a full 64-team bracket with 42 schools earning automatic bids like Lynchburg and 22 garnering at-large nods like RMC.
The method in which at-large selections were determined also changed this season. New for all Division III team sports is the NCAA Power Index (NPI). All teams in a given sport -- 382 in D-III baseball -- feature a NPI rating. Those NPI ratings are ranked sequentially and form a transparent method of selecting teams at-large to Division III brackets, replacing the former process of the sport championship committees selecting teams at-large based on predetermined selection criteria. Once the 42 automatic qualifiers are known, the next 22 best NPI-rated teams formed the list of at-large selected programs to fill out the bracket.
The ODAC's two schools appear on opposite sides of the bracket. Lynchburg (38-7) is situated in the bottom-left quadrant, while Randolph-Macon (30-15) is in the lower-right section. Both will host double-elimination regional four-team pods.
Lynchburg will open play against Marymount (Va.) University. The Saints (24-19) won the Atlantic East Conference (AEC) championship. The remaining two teams competing in the Hill City are Emory University and Maryville (Tenn.) College. The Eagles (26-14) are an at-large pick out of the University Athletic Association (UAA), while the Scots (32-12) are an at-large selection from the USA South Athletic Conference (USAS).
Randolph-Macon kicks off its 2025 on Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park with a meeting with Messiah University. The Falcons (31-14) won the Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth (MAC-Commonwealth) title. The remaining two teams competing in Ashland are SUNY Brockport and Methodist University. The Golden Eagles (36-3-2) earned the Empire 8 Conference crown, while the Monarchs (32-13) hoisted the USA South trophy.
Tournament competition begins with regional play on Friday-Sunday, May 16-18. Super-regionals (best-of-3 series) to determine the final eight teams in the bracket are slated for Friday-Saturday, May 23-24. The national championship will be hosted by the North Coast Atlantic Conference (NCAC) at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio, on Friday-Thursday, May 30-June 5.