FLORENCE, SC – The Francis Marion University baseball program received an at-large bid and the fifth overall seed in the upcoming Southeast Regional of the NCAA Division II Tournament following the release of the bracket on the selection show on Sunday night.

The 56-team NCAA Tournament field includes 21 automatic qualifiers and 35 at-large selections. The tournament is comprised of 16 sub-regional sites in double-elimination tournaments, with all competition taking place May 14-17. The two host sites in the Southeast Region will be at top-seed North Greenville University and second-seeded Catawba College.

The Patriots will be making their ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2012, ending a 14-year hiatus from the national tournament. Under the leadership of second-year head coach Jeff Jefferson, the Patriots set a single-season record for wins with a 42-12 record and finished second in the Conference Carolinas standings during the regular season.

Francis Marion will enter the regional as the fifth seed and face the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) regular season champion, No. 4-seeded University of North Georgia (41-14), on Thursday at 2 p.m. Top seed North Greenville (47-10), which won the Conference Carolinas regular season, will compete against back-to-back PBC Tournament Champions, eighth-seeded Lander University (36-19) at 6 p.m.

The losers from Thursday's contests will play at 2 p.m. on Friday in an elimination game, while the winners will play at 6 p.m. On Saturday, the first contest will be another elimination game, starting at 2 p.m., before the final two squads advance to the championship game at 6 p.m. An if-necessary game would be played on Sunday at 3 p.m.

Catawba College (42-11), which won the South Atlantic Conference regular season crown, captured the No. 2 seed and hosting rights in the other pod. The Catawba Indians will match up against seventh-seeded Belmont Abbey College (38-14) in the opening round at Newman Park. Wingate University (39-17), the SAC Tournament winners, will play sixth-seeded Young Harris College (39-16), the tournament champion from the Conference Carolinas.

The winner of each sub-regional will advance to the NCAA II Super Regionals, May 21-23, at on-campus sites. The Super Regional winner will advance to the NCAA Division II College World Series, May 29-June 6 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

Francis Marion faced six squads in 14 total games, included in this year's Southeast regional field, during the 2026 regular season.

The Patriots and Nighthawks will meet for the first time since 2021.

TIGERVILLE, SC Sub-Regional for the Southeast Region of NCAA Division II
Thursday, May 14
Game 1 - 2 pm #4 University of North Georgia (41-14) vs #5 Francis Marion University (42-12)
Game 2 - 6 pm #1 North Greenville University (47-10) vs #8 Lander University (43-15)
Friday, May 15
Game 3 - 2 pm Game 1 loser vs Game 2 loser
Game 4 - 6 pm Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner
Saturday, May 16
Game 5 - 2 pm Game 3 winner vs Game 4 loser
Game 6 - 6 pm Game 4 winner vs Game 5 winner
Sunday, May 17
Game 7 - 3 pm  IF NECESSARY Game