The NCAA Division III baseball tournament selection committee announced the field for the 2026 NCAA Division III Championships on Monday, May 11. The Spartans received an automatic (Pool A) bid and are in the field for the 2026 Baseball championships.
The Spartans of Aurora University will travel to Danville, Kentucky for the Regional hosted by Centre College. Making their 26th appearance overall and first NCAA Regional appearance since the 2023 season, the Spartans are the No. 4 seed in the four-team region and will take on Washington University in St. Louis on Friday, May 15 with first pitch scheduled for 11:00 a.m. (est) / 10:00 a.m. (cst). AU is 2-3 against teams in the field of 64
The teams that will participate in the regional are as follows:
- - No. 1 Washington University in St. Louis (28-11)
- - No. 2 Centre College (32-11)
- - No. 3 Piedmont University (27-15)
- - No. 4 Aurora University (31-12)
The Spartans earned their place in the 2026 NCAA Division III Championships after winning the 2026 Northern Athletics Conference Conference (NACC) regular season and tournament championship. The Spartans have a 31-12 overall record. As a team the Spartans are hitting .360 and having scored 429 runs with 43 home runs, eight triples and 113 doubles and rank among the top in Division III in several statistical categories..As a pitching staff, the Spartans have a 5.09 earned run average and opponents hit .283 against. As a fielding team, the Spartans are fielding .967 and have committed 45 errors in 43 games played.
AU is led by First-Team All-Conference performers
Joe Lukancic,
Tyler Patton,
Isaac Goddard,
Ryan Buck and
Zack Tarrant. The AU pitching core led by All-Conference selection
Conner Hogan.
Lukancici is hitting .479 with 16 doubles, three triples, one home run, 41 runs batted in and 65 runs scored thus far on the season. His 91 hits is an AU single season record and leads Division III. He also posted a .526 on-base percentage while slugging .611 for the Spartans.
Patton is hitting .353 with 19 doubles, 15 home runs, 66 runs batted in and 44 runs scored. Goddard has a .376 batting average with eight doubles, five home runs, 37 runs batted in and 40 runs scored. Buck has a .362 batting average with 16 doubles, six home runs, 48 runs batted in, and 44 runs scored. Tarrant is hitting .394 with 13 doubles, four home runs, 48 runs scored, and 51 runs batted in.
Hogan is currently 10-2 overall on the season with a 2.90 earned run average and two saves in 83.2 innings pitched with four complete games, striking out 74 and opponents are hitting .257 against him.
