By Drew Karpen

For the third straight year, Washington & Jefferson College's Ross Memorial Park will serve as the host site for the NCAA Division III Baseball Mideast Regional. This will be the second year in a row that the tournament will be set with eight teams.

Whoever survives this year's regional, will have well-earned their spot in the College World Series.

Three out of the eight teams competing this year were finalists in the College World Series a year ago. The second-seeded State University of New York at Cortland, third-seeded La Roche College and sixth-seeded Keystone College are all trying to make return trips to Appleton, Wisconsin. La Roche is the defending Mideast Regional champion and advanced to the national semifinals, while Keystone is the national runner-up from last year.

Rounding out the field is top-seeded The College of Wooster, fourth-seed and host, Washington & Jefferson College, fifth-seeded Misericordia University, seventh-seeded DePauw University and eighth-seeded Earlham College.

Half the field is ranked in the top ten in batting average in the country, with La Roche leading the nation at a .356 clip. The Redhawks also lead the country with 119 doubles and are second with 520 hits. Wooster and Washington & Jefferson College are ranked one and two in runs scored, respectively, with 420 and 404. Cortland will have the best team pitching out of any team in the field, as the Red Dragons are supporting a 3.05 ERA, ranking them seventh in the nation.

Four teams finished the season ranked in the Top 25 in the final regular season d3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 rankings. Cortland is ranked No. 4, followed by Wooster at No. 8 and La Roche at No. 12 and Washington & Jefferson at No. 16.

The following are previews of Thursday's first-round matchups.

No. 4 Washington & Jefferson College (34-10) vs. No. 5 Misericordia University (30-12), 10 a.m.

How they got here: The Presidents worked their way through the loser's bracket last weekend to win their 11th Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) championship at home for the automatic bid...The Cougars won their seventh-straight Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom Championship.

Previous regional result: Washington & Jefferson went 1-2 in the 2015 Mideast Regional at Ross Memorial Park...Misericordia went 0-2 in the Mid-Atlantic Regional last year.

Players to watch: The Presidents battery of catcher Derek Helbing and pitcher Riley Groves were awarded as the PAC Player and Pitcher of the Year. Helbing finished the regular season with a .342 (50-for-146) batting average with 11 home runs, 51 RBI and 43 runs scored. The RBI total was the most in the conference and was tied for first in home runs. Groves is 8-2 with a 1.94 ERA in 11 starts this season. He finished the season with 56 strikeouts and recorded three complete games...The Cougars are led by conference Pitcher of the Year Tim Burek and Rookie of the Year Tyler Holzapfel. Burek was 9-3 in the regular season with a 2.67 ERA. The nine wins led the team. He also struck out 72 in 67.1 innings pitched. Holzapfel was second on the team with a .373 average. He finished first on the team with four home runs and 36 RBI and was tied for the team lead with 31 runs scored.

Previous meeting: First meeting

No. 1 The College of Wooster (35-8) vs. No. 8 Earlham College (29-12), 1:15 p.m.

How they got here: The Fighting Scots outscored their opponents 53-11, including a 25-6 win over DePauw in the championship game to win their 17th North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) title...The Quakers went 3-0 to win their first Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) championship.

Previous regional result: Wooster went 3-2 in last year's Mideast Regional at Ross Memorial Park...Earlham is making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament.

Players to watch: Wooster will be coming to Ross Memorial Park with the NCAC Player and Pitcher of the Year. Senior Jamie Lackner is batting .418 (66-for-158) on the season and has a .539 on-base percentage. Through the end of the regular season, Lackner led the league on on-base percentage and walks, ranked second in RBI, was third in batting average, and tied for third in hits. Michael Houdek won Pitcher of the Year with a 8-2 record and 3.77 ERA. Houdek's worked 74 innings with 13 appearances, including 11 starts, and struck out 58 while holding opponents to a .249 average on the year. Entering the postseason, Houdek was tops in the NCAC in wins and third in strikeouts.....Senior Nate Lynch leads Earlham in average at a .411 clip while also driving in 32 runs at the top of the batting order. Lynch, who leads NCAA Division III in stolen bases, has swiped 46 bases this season. Senior Eric Elkus, the program's career leader in runs batted in, has 54 RBI to go along with eight home runs, 17 doubles, and a .341 batting average.

Previous meeting: Wooster defeated Earlham 16-1 and 9-1 in a doubleheader back in 1999 when the two were both members of the NCAC.

No. 3 La Roche College (34-8) vs. No. 6 Keystone College (31-13), 4:30 p.m.

How they got here: The defending regional champion Redhawks will be making its third straight regional appearance at Ross Memorial Park after winning the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC)...The Giants won the Colonial State Athletic Conference for the 13th straight year.

Previous regional result: La Roche won the Mideast Regional last year...Keystone won the Mid-Atlantic Regional last year.

Players to watch: La Roche sophomore pitcher Nick Tunstall took home AMCC Pitcher of the Year honors this year. Tunstall led the conference with a 1.44 ERA and held opponents to a .192 batting average against. Senior Luis Navedo was first-team all-conference after leading the conference in runs scored, fourth in doubles and RBI, and fifth in hits....Keystone junior Troy Terzi was named CSAC Pitcher of the Year and freshman Adam Kelly was CSAC Rookie of the Year. Terzi was tied for the conference lead in wins with seven and posted a 1.88 ERA. He led the conference with 78 strikeouts. Kelly batted .303 with 23 hits and 15 runs. He hit three home runs and batted in 17 runs this year.

Previous meeting: Keystone defeated La Roche 6-1 and 5-4 in 10 innings in the 2016 College World Series.

No. 2 SUNY-Cortland (33-7) vs. No. 7 DePauw University (31-11), 7:45 p.m.

How they got here: The Red Dragons are making their 25th straight NCAA tournament appearance by receiving an at-large, Pool C berth as a runner-up in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC)...The Tigers snuck into the postseason as an at-large, Poll C bid as well after being outscored by Wooster 43-9 in two games in the NCAC tournament.

Previous regional result: Cortland won the New York Regional last year...DePauw went 2-2 in the Moline Regional in 2014.

Players to watch: Cortland senior Alex Weingarten won the SUNYAC Co-Pitcher of the Year award, while freshman Colin BeVard was named Rookie of the Year. Weingarten finished the regular season 6-1 with a 2.20 ERA and a save. He struck out 50 batters in 45 innings pitched. BeVard his hitting .347 in 31 games with two doubles, a triple, home run and 12 RBI...DePauw senior Jack Thompson and Mike Hammel spearheaded the potent offensive attack for the Tigers all season. Thompson batted .379 with a team-high 13 home runs and 55 RBI. The home run total is a single-season school record. Hammel supported a team-leading .396 batting average, and was right behind Thompson with 12 home runs. He is also one of the Tigers best pitchers, going 6-1 with a 3.92 ERA.

Previous meeting: First meeting