Courtesy Westfield State Sports Information

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Division III Baseball Committee has announced the 55 teams that will compete in the 2010 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship and the tournament field includes Westfield State, which earned an at-large berth.

The Owls earned an NCAA Tournament berth for the third time in four years and they are returning to Mansfield, Conn., for the second straight year for the New England Regional hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University.

Westfield (30-9) is the No. 6 seed in the eight-team, double-elimination regional tournament and it is scheduled to play No. 3 seed Western New England College on Wednesday, May 19, at 4:30 p.m in an opening round game.. The New England participants are:

1. Tufts (31-5)
2. Wheaton (Massachusetts) 32-8)
3. Western New England (33-10)
4. Eastern Connecticut State (30-13)
5. Worcester State (31-9-1)
6. Westfield State (30-9)
7. Massachusetts-Boston (28-15)
8. St. Joseph's (Maine) (32-11)

Westfield defeated local rival WNEC, 19-5, in a non-conference game on April 22. WNEC owns a 33-10 record, including a 9-6 victory over Johns Hopkins - the No 1 ranked team in the nation - on March 17 in Arizona.

Ten of the 55 teams are from the New England Region. Keene State and Castleton State are playing in the New York Regional in Auburn, N.Y.

Six teams will compete at four first-round sites; seven teams will compete at one first-round site; eight teams will compete at three first-round sites. All first rounds will use a double-elimination format. Thirty-six conference champions qualified automatically.

Winners of the eight first-round tournaments will qualify for the double-elimination championship at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin, May 28-June 1.

NCAA NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL TOURNEY TIDBITS - WESTFIELD

All New England Regional games can be viewed on Live Stats and Live Videostream. Go to www.littleeast.com or the Eastern Connecticut State University athletics Web site for complete tournament details. D3baseball.com is providing complete reports of all eight regional tournaments.

Westfield State is competing in its third NCAA Tournament in the past four years. The Owls played in the New England Regional at Eastern Connecticut in 2009 and the New York Regional in Auburn, N.Y., in 2007.

Westfield has also won or shared three of the past four regular season conference championships. Westfield won the 2010 MASCAC regular season crown with a 12-2 record but dropped two close decisions to Worcester State, 15-14, and 3-2, in the MASCAC tournament.

The Owls won the MASCAC postseason tournament in 2009 and 2007 so this year is their first at-large bid since 1984 when Dave Jauss, former Boston Red Sox third base coach and currently a coach for the New York Mets, was the Westfield head coach.

This is Westfield’s 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Westfield went to NCAAs seven times during a 10-year stretch (1975-84), including five straight years (1975-79).

Westfield State owsn a 30-9 record this season, the first time since 1979 it has won 30 or more games. The Owls have played competitive ball the entire 2010 season as five of their nine losses have been by a run.

Westfield has a veteran team with nine seniors. During the past four years they have posted an aggregate record of 95 wins, 58 losses and 1 tie. Westfield has posted four straight 20-win seasons for the first time since the late 70s-early 80s.

The Owls had five all-conference selections this season. All are first team selections: senior designated hitter Kevin Lyons, junior second baseman Pete Grillo, senior shortstop Ben Wagner, sophomore third baseman Matt Kelly, and senior rightfielder Jeff Fields.

Lyons also was the MASCAC 2010 player of the year. The left handed hitting slugger set school records with 56 RBI this season and 114 career RBI. He also has team highs of eight homers and 16 doubles.

Wagner is the first player in Westfield history to record 200 career hits. He shattered the previous record of 160 hits and currently has 210 hits. Wagner, primarily a singles hitter, is hitting for more power this season with 10 doubles, 1 triple and 1 homer. Wagner is a four-time all-conference selection and an all-conference selection at three infield positions – second, shortstop and third. He was the 2007 MASCAC rookie of the year when he batted .407.

Fields is also a versatile player with one of the strongest arms in New England. He was an all-conference second baseman in 2009 and was the ace of the Owl pitching staff during his freshman year. He has pitched in five games this season.

Another all-conference first-team selection in 2009 was senior first baseman Ben Campbell. Campbell was not a first or second team selection this season despite his .387 average and 60 hits, one shy of the school single-season record of 61 hits held by Dave Tabin (1977) and former Red Sox farmhand Mike Ciampa (1978). Campbell played his first two years of college ball at Holyoke Community College.

Also setting a school single-season record this year is senior closer Phil Towne with eight saves.

Holding the top pitching records are senior Jesse Vermeersch (6-1), Aaron Messier (6-1), Bob Sinopoli (5-1) and Tymon Muska (5-0). Vermeersch is a four-year starter for the Owls with a 19-6 career record. Messier is a converted infielder who has thrown well for the Owls. Sinopoli returned to the team after being sidelined four years with a shoulder injury.  Prior to this year, he last pitched for Westfield in 2006, posting a 3-3 record.

The Owls are fundamentally sound, ranking 17th nationally in fielding percentage, fifth in double plays and third in sacrifice bunts.