The bracket for the 2022 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship has been announced by the NCAA. The University of Illinois Springfield baseball team will be the seventh-seed at the event. The Prairie Stars will face Point Loma in a first-round game next Saturday at 6 p.m. (eastern).
 
The NCAA Division II Baseball Championships will take place from June 4-11 in Cary, N.C. The games will be played at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. The Prairie Stars will play June 4 and June 6 in the double-elimination tournament, and their remainder schedule will depend on those results.
 
UIS was placed on the same side of the bracket as second-seed Point Loma, third-seed Southern Arkansas, and sixth-seed Rollins. The other side of the bracket includes top-seed North Greenville, fourth-seed Southern New Hampshire, fifth-seed Angelo State, and eighth-seed West Chester.
 
UIS advanced to Cary, N.C. for the first time in program history. The Prairie Stars earned a spot in the championship event after defeating Quincy two games to one in the NCAA Midwest Super Regional last week. UIS is 48-9 on the season, and has won a GLVC Division Regular Season Championship, the GLVC Tournament Championship, a NCAA Regional title, and last week's NCAA Super Regional. UIS is 9-1 in postseason play, and it has outscored its opponents by a 103-53 margin in those games.
 
Point Loma heads to Cary with a 48-8 overall record. It won the Pac West Conference Championship with a 25-7 record. The Sea Lions went 3-0 in their NCAA West regional, and won the West Super Regional in three games over Azusa Pacific.
 
The first round game will feature one of the top offenses in NCAA Division II against one of the top pitching staffs. UIS is among the nation's leaders with 10.3 runs per game. Point Loma, meanwhile, is among national leaders with a 3.16 ERA.
 
Among UIS's possible second-round opponents, Southern Arkansas is 46-11 overall, and brings a nine-game winning streak to Cary. Rollins is 40-15 overall, and it upset Tampa in the NCAA South Super Regional.
 
UIS has not faced any of the programs in Cary, N.C. before in its program history.
 
The complete bracket can be found here, and more information on the tournament can be found here.