KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) officially announced the pairings and site selection for the 2011 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round on Sunday.

Each of the nine locations will feature a five-team double-elimination tournament May 12 – 16. National Championship Opening Round winners will join host Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) at the Avista-NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. The 55th annual event will be played May 27 – June 3 at Harris Field.

The Hillcats will return to Lubbock Christian for Opening Round play after winning the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship in Lubbock on Saturday. RSU enters the tournament as the No. 2-seed and host LCU is the tournament's No. 1-seed. Northwood (Texas) enters the tournament as the third-seed after receiving an at-large bid. Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament champion, Kansas Wesleyan, is the No. 4-seed. Hasting (Neb.) was the Great Plains Athletic Conference regular-season champion and rounds out the group as the No 5-seed.

The Diamond Cats will open play on Thursday, May 12 at 2:30 p.m. against Northwood.

Thirty-two teams, including RSU, earned an automatic berth to the 45-team National Championship Opening Round by winning their respective conference/independent/unaffiliated group tournament. Thirteen additional clubs earned at-large selections determined by the final NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top 25 Poll released Sunday.

After winning the SAC Tournament, the Hillcats moved up four spots to No. 15 in the final NAIA Baseball Coaches' Top-25 poll. SAC Tournament runner-up Oklahoma Baptist moved up one spot to No. 4 while No. 9 LCU and No. 2 Oklahoma City retained its previous rankings.

For more information about the 2011 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round visit www.naia.org.

For Opening Round Bracket click here.