The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s baseball team is now in a position to receive a berth into the NCAA Div. III Championship, thanks to an agreement between two conferences.
The City University of New York Athletic Conference and North Atlantic Conference have agreed to align their respective baseball championships, with the winner of the conference playoff receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, beginning with the 2019 season.
The two-year agreement will see the CUNYAC and NAC play their regular-season schedules separately, and determine their individual champions, by virtue of each conference’s postseason tournament.
The two league champions will then meet on the second weekend of May in a best-of-three series, with the winner advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The format will include a single game on Friday, and a maximum of two games on Saturday. A rain date is set for that Sunday, with the schedule subject to change.
“We are beyond excited for this tremendous opportunity to partner with the NAC and for our baseball student-athletes to be able to play, not just for the CUNY Championship, but also for a chance to automatically qualify for NCAA’s,” said CUNYAC Executive Director Zak Ivkovic. “We are also appreciative of the tremendous support of both presidential groups to make this venture a reality.”
The North Atlantic Conference‘s champion will host the inaugural title game in 2019, while the CUNY Athletic Conference is slated to take hosting duties in 2020.
“I want to thank Zak Ivkovic for his leadership in working with us, and the athletic administrators and presidents for their work to make this a reality,” said NAC Commissioner Marcella Zalot. “Playing for the right to participate in the NCAA Tournament, and then actually playing in the NCAA Tournament, are both very special experiences for student-athletes, coaches and programs.
“I am pleased NAC institutions will continue to have access to this experience and that CUNY institutions will now have the opportunity for this type of experience in the sport of baseball. The CUNY and the NAC are poised to be great partners,” Zalot added.
The NCAA Division III rules stipulate that a conference needs seven members in each team sport to receive an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. Each conference currently has five programs that sponsor baseball, as of the 2019 season, necessitating this creative merger to grow the sport of baseball for the two conferences.
The four other North Atlantic Conference schools beside University of Maine at Presque Isle are Husson University in Bangor, Northern Vermont University-Lyndon of Lyndonville, Vermont, University of Maine at Farmington and Thomas College of Waterville. SUNY-Canton is set to join the NAC in baseball in 2020.
Meanwhile, the five schools that compose the CUNY Athletic Conference in baseball are all located in New York City — Baruch College, City College of New York, John Jay College, Lehman College and College of Staten Island.
