NORFOLK, Va. (NSU Athletics Release) – The MEAC champion Norfolk State baseball team will make its first-ever NCAA Division I Baseball Championship appearance this weekend as part of a four-team regional hosted by East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

The Spartans (25-26) are the No. 4 seed in the Greenville Regional and will face No. 1 seed ECU from the American Athletic Conference on Friday at noon at Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Pirates (41-15) are ranked 17th this week by Baseball America.

The other teams in the regional include No. 2 seed and 25th ranked Charlotte (39-19) out of Conference USA and No. 3 seed Maryland (28-16) out of the Big Ten. Those two will play at 6 p.m. Friday. The losers of the two games and winners of the two games play Saturday.

“I’m so happy for our players, their families and the University,” head coach Keith Shumate said. “We didn’t care where they put us, we’re just excited to be part of the tournament. We look forward to competing against some excellent ball clubs.”

The Spartans enter postseason with a 25-26 record and will be facing East Carolina for the sixth time. ECU leads the all-time series with NSU 5-0, including a 9-1 win in 2018. NSU is 0-1 all-time against Maryland (1-0 loss in 2012) and has never faced Charlotte.

Ticket information will be announced in the coming days.