NAMPA, Idaho - After securing the GNAC auto bid with the tournament championship on Saturday, Northwest Nazarene baseball did not have to worry about whether or not they would get into the NCAA tournament when selections were announced on Sunday night. 

The question was where they would be playing, and the Nighthawks (36-12-1, GNAC regular season and tournament champions) will make the trip to Seaside, California as the three-seed in the West Region. Cal State Monterey Bay (35-18, CCAA regular season and tournament champions) is the two-seed and host of the pod, with the Nighthawks and Otters joined by six-seed San Francisco State (32-24, fourth in CCAA, CCAA tourney runner-up).

The double-elimination regional pod will be played over three days from Thursday to Saturday, May 16-18, at the CSUMB Baseball Field. NNU will open against San Francisco State in the first game of the regional on Thursday, with game time yet to be announced.

Point Loma (40-10-1, PacWest regular season and tournament champions) is the top seed in the West Region and host of the other pod. Joining the Sea Lions in San Diego are four-seed Cal Poly Pomona (31-22, third in CCAA) and five-seed Cal State San Marcos (27-19, second in CCAA).

NNU has enjoyed a stellar season thus far, winning the GNAC Regular Season title for the third time in the last four seasons and holding an overall record of 36-13-1 and conference mark of 23-9. The 36 wins thus far are the most in a season in the program's 77-year history. They backed up their top seeding in the GNAC Championships, defeating Western Oregon twice to claim the title and earn the automatic bid to the program's third NCAA regional. 

In NNU's first NCAA Regional appearance in 2021, the Nighthawks won the West Regional as the two seed (only three teams qualified with the CCAA not playing that season) and advanced to the DII College World Series in Cary, North Carolina, where they went 1-2 with a victory over Trevecca Nazarene. The following season in 2022, NNU was the four seed in the regional and won their first game over Cal Poly Pomona before falling twice to top seed Point Loma. 

A full preview of the regional will be posted on NNUsports.com later this week.