KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For the 54th time in the history of NAIA baseball, the Avista-NAIA World Series will play out from May 28-June 4 in Lewiston, Idaho. Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), hosts for the 11th straight year and 19th overall, is the No. 1 seed. The Warriors are owners of an NAIA-record 16 World Series titles, have appeared in 29 World Series and hold a 117-33 all-time Series record.

No. 7 Embry-Riddle (Fla.) and newcomer No. 10 Tennessee Wesleyan square off in the tournament's first game at 8:30 a.m. PDT on Friday. No. 2 Cumberland (Tenn.) faces the winner of the Embry-Riddle and Tennessee Wesleyan game. No. 8 Belhaven (Miss.) and No. 9 Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) will follow with a Noon game. The winner of that contest advances to play Lewis-Clark State.

Defending national champion and No. 5 seed Lubbock Christian (Texas) will tangle with No. 4 Lee (Tenn.) in the third game of the first day at 3 p.m. The final contest of Day 1 has No. 3 California Baptist going against No. 6 Oklahoma City.

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Two teams are making their first World Series appearance, Belhaven and Tennessee Wesleyan. Eight conferences are represented in the 10-team field led by the Golden State Athletic Conference and the Sooner Conference. California Baptist and Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.), the national runners-up last season, hail from the GSAC. Lubbock Christian and Oklahoma City are members of the SAC.

The World Series is a double-elimination tournament with the winner being crowned either June 3 or June 4, dependent upon if the Champion team has to play in the Loser or Winner's Bracket.

The World Series will be video-streamed live by NeuLion, the parent company of JumpTV. Users can purchase the All-Tournament pass, which includes every game for $24.95, or the day pass for $8.95.

Did You Know?

• No. 1 seed Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) is hosting its 11th straight World Series and 19th overall. The 11th consecutive is a World Series record for straight host berths surpassing the eight of St. Joseph, Mo. from 1962-69 and LCSC during 1984-1991.

• Behind Lewis-Clark State's NAIA record 117 World Series wins, Oklahoma City is next with 30 victories followed by Cumberland (Tenn.) (20) and Lubbock Christian (Texas) (19). (Note: Games include only World Series and not Opening Round).

• Among the current World Series field, four programs have won at least one World Series title, Lewis-Clark State (16), Lubbock Christian (2), Cumberland (1) and Oklahoma City (1). Those same teams are the most recent winners going back to 2002, Lewis-Clark State (2002-03; 2006-08), Cumberland (2004), Oklahoma City (2005) and Lubbock Christian (2009).

• This was the second year for the National Championship Opening Round tournaments - prior to 2009, there were seven Super Regional tournaments with those champions, plus two-to-three at-large bids (dependent upon if Lewis-Clark State won) heading to Lewiston for the 10-team Avista-NAIA World Series.

• Two teams, Belhaven (Miss.) and Tennessee Wesleyan, are making their first appearance in the World Series.

• The Bulldog mascot is associated with two World Series teams, Cumberland (Tenn.) and Tennessee Wesleyan.

• Three teams from the state of Tennessee will compete: Cumberland, Lee and Tennessee Wesleyan.

• Embry-Riddle (Fla.) has the largest enrollment (4,358). Three other schools have over 4,000 students. The smallest student population is Tennessee Wesleyan with 1,070 students.

• Oklahoma City is making its 12th trip and third straight while Cumberland is competing in its 11th overall World Series and first since 2007. Those are the second and third most among this year's field.

• Cumberland (Tenn.) owns the most wins this year in the 10-team field with a 53-9 record. The team with the fewest wins is Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) with a 38-18-1 mark.

• There are four coaches among the 10-team field that have over 800 career wins and three of them have over 1,000. Lewis-Clark State coach Ed Cheff is the active NAIA wins leader with a 1,704-428 mark in his 34th season. Woody Hunt of Cumberland (Tenn.) is 1,279-523 in 29 seasons. Oklahoma City skipper Denney Crabaugh is 1,088-336-2 in his 22nd season. Hill Denson, in his 24th season overall and 11th at Belhaven (Miss.), is 822-629-2.

• Conversely, Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) coach Joe Schaefer is just in his second season as a collegiate head coach and is 83-31-1.

• Lubbock Christian (Texas) is looking to become the first team, other than Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), to win back-to-back World Series titles since Grand Canyon (Ariz.) from 1980-82.

Team Notes

No. 2 Cumberland (Tenn.) (53-9)

• Cumberland has won 13 of a possible 22 TranSouth Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week awards this season, including four each for Matt Greener and Shawn Schaefer. Greener won three straight from March 22-April 5.

• Schaefer was named the NAIA National Pitcher of the Week on March 23.

• Cumberland hit more than 100 home runs on the season for the 10th time in school history. The Bulldogs reached the 100 plateau in a doubleheader on April 30 against Lyon College (Ark.).

• It marks the fifth time in 10 years the Bulldogs have reached the century home run mark.

• Cumberland reached the 40-win mark for the 21st time in 27 seasons since the university became a four-year institution, including 18 of the last 20 campaigns.

• Cumberland had eight players on the TranSouth All-Conference team, all on the First Team, including David Fanshawe (C), Greg Appleton (1B), Sam Kikla (SS), Matt Greener (3B), Troy Frazier (OF), Kris Miller (OF), Shawn Schaefer (SP) and Aaron Wilkerson (SP).

• The Bulldogs won the TranSouth regular season title for the third time in the last five seasons and the second consecutive year.

• Making first appearance since 2007. The Bulldogs are one of four teams among the World Series field to have at least one title.

• Looking for its first win since 2006 (went 0-2 in its last appearance).

• Holds the fourth-most wins (20) amongst the 2010 participants.

#TRANSOUTH#