The Delta State baseball team will get a chance at redemption when it travels to West Florida, which it lost to in the Gulf South Conference championship, for the opening round of the NCAA Division II Tournament.
As expected, the Statesmen were selected to the tournament during Sunday night’s selection show – marking the third year in a row Delta State will vie for a national championship. The last time the program won it all was in 2004.
Delta State (31-21) will field as the 4-seed in the South Region. Other teams competing in Pensacola include 1-seed West Florida (39-13), 5-seed Lee (36-17), and 8-seed Edward Waters (33-19).
The other side of the South Region will also be played in Florida but at the University of Tampa. 2-seed Tampa (41-8) will welcome 3-seed Rollins (34-14), 6-seed West Alabama (34-15), and 7-seed Trevecca Nazarene (32-21).
The winners of each side will eventually play in the super regional round with a shot in the finals on the round.
When does Delta State start regional play?
4-seed Delta State will begin regional play against 5-seed Lee on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT. The winner will face the winner of 1-seed West Florida and 8-seed Edward Waters. The losers of each game will play with the loser of that game going home and the other keeping their championship hopes alive.
While it’s the 38th regional berth in Delta State history, the Statesmen have struggled to get past West Florida in recent tournaments. Last year, Delta State lost in Pensacola – dropping the opening game to the Argos, 7-3. In 2024, Delta State was eliminated by West Florida in the regional round when the Argos won 17-6.
Delta State narrowly fell to West Florida, 2-1, in the 2026 Gulf South Conference championship game.
It is worth noting that this is the final season West Florida will compete on the Division II level. The Argos athletic program has accepted a bid to join Division I’s Atlantic Sun Conference for most sports and the United Athletic Conference for football, effective fall 2026.
How does the tournament work?
The NCAA Division II Tournament has a total of 16 regional sites with all regionals double-elimination tournaments. Regionals will be played May 14 through May 16. Regional winners will advance to the best-of-three super regional round to be played May 21 through May 23.
Eight super regional winners will advance to the double-elimination championship finals at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. The finals will begin May 29 with the Division II national champion being crowned by June 6.
The full bracket can be found here.