INDIANAPOLIS --- The Tusculum College baseball team has climbed one spot and is listed fifth in this week's NCAA Division II Southeast Region rankings.

The Pioneers (36-16) won three of its last five South Atlantic Conference Tournament games and advanced to the championship series last month, where TC dropped a pair of one-run decisions to Catawba College.

USC Aiken is the top-ranked team in the region after claiming the outright Peach Belt Conference title last week. Francis Marion University is second and is riding a 14-game winning streak and jumped one spot over now No. 3 Georgia College & State University. Catawba is fourth after going 5-1 in the SAC Tournament, including a 9-3 loss to the Pioneers, its only setback in the event. Tusculum is fifth, followed by Armstrong Atlantic State University, UNC Pembroke and North Georgia College & State University.

The three leagues that make up the NCAA II Southeast Region (South Atlantic Conference, Peach Belt Conference and Conference Carolinas) will each receive an automatic berth to next week's NCAA Tournament. Catawba (SAC) and Belmont Abbey College (Conference Carolinas) have already punched their ticket for the NCAA postseason, winning their respective tournament titles. This weekend's Peach Belt Conference Tournament champion will claim the third automatic bid. Three at-large bids for the Southeast Regional will also be awarded.

Tusculum captured its fourth SAC Championship in the last five years this season and has already clinched its fifth straight campaign with at least 35 victories and seventh in a row with 30 wins.

The Pioneers will learn their NCAA postseason fate this weekend when the bracket is announced.

- NCAA -

NCAA II Southeast Region Baseball Rankings
Rk. Team Prv.
1 USC Aiken 1
2 Francis Marion 3
3 Georgia College & State 2
4 Catawba* 4
5 TUSCULUM 6
6 Armstrong Atlantic State NR
7 UNC Pembroke 5
8 North Georgia NR
* Automatic qualifier

Tusculum Opponents in Italics