GCS Ballpark To Host Division II Championships

The NCAA confirmed Monday that its 2008 Division II Baseball Championships will come to Southwestern Illinois in May, co-hosted by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and UM–St. Louis. SIUE Director of Athletics Brad Hewitt, a member of the NCAA Division II Baseball Committee, was instrumental in attracting the event to the area.

The tournament will take place May 24-31 at GCS Ballpark, just off Interstate 255, while hosting duties will be shared by the village of Sauget where the stadium is located. “When it became evident that the committee needed to find a new home for the championships, I knew this could be a big win for all of us,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt said he contacted Gateway Grizzlies General Manager Tony Funderburg and Frontier League Commissioner Bill Lee, an SIUE alumnus, to see if GCS Ballpark would have an interest in playing host to the championships. “Many minor league ballparks would not want to bring an event of this magnitude to their facility right at the beginning of the season,” he said, noting the Gateway Grizzlies have proven to be a good partner in attracting this event in such a short time span.

He thanked Frontier League and GCS Ballpark officials, the UM–St. Louis, “especially Athletics Director John Garvilla,” and NCAA officials Monday for helping make the event a reality. “It’s this kind of collaboration that helps make such events happen,” Hewitt said.

He added that another significant factor in bringing the tournament to Southwestern Illinois is “the success of the St. Louis Sports Commission, the Missouri Valley Conference, Saint Louis University and the St. Louis region in hosting previous NCAA championships.”

Garvilla said he was pleased to see the cooperation achieved throughout the St. Louis area. “Triton Athletics is extremely excited about our partnership in this great event. It is our hope to help produce such an outstanding event that we will become the host institution for this championship and be able to keep it in the region.”

Hewitt said attracting what is normally one of the longest and best-attended NCAA Division II Championship events should be a plus for Southwestern Illinois. More than 16,000 fans attended the championship finals last season when Tampa won its second straight national title.

The Division II baseball tournament move was finalized Monday by the NCAA Championships Committee after the NCAA Baseball Committee formally agreed to move the championships earlier this month. This will be the first time the NCAA Division II baseball finals have been outside Montgomery, Ala., since 1985.

–Excerpt courtesy SIUE