Kansas City, MO-The Belhaven baseball team will open up the 2011 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round tournament against Fresno Pacific University Thursday afternoon at 2:30 PM in Oklahoma City, OK. The Blazers, ranked 20th in the final NAIA Top 25 Poll learned they were the number three seed at the Oklahoma City site when the tournament brackets were released by the NAIA Sunday evening. There are nine National Championship Opening Round sites, with the tournaments running from May 12-16.

Belhaven is 43-16 overall and received an automatic bid to this year's tournament after having won the 2011 Southern States Athletic Conference Championship last week in Columbus, GA. The Blazers are making their third appearance in the national tournament opening round and made their first trip to the Avista NAIA World Series in Lewisto, ID in 2010. The Blazers hosted an opening round site last year and went 3-0 defeating Texas Wesleyan University in the championship game to punch their ticket to the World Series.

Fresno Pacific, seeded second and ranked 18th in final top 25 Poll, hails from the Golden State Athletic Conference and enters the tournament with an overall record of 30-19. The Sunbirds earned one of 13 at-large bids which were determined by the final top 25 poll. The Sunbirds are also making their third appearance in the national tournament and have a 6-3 record in opening round play.

Belhaven is led by left fielder Jimmy Gilford who is hitting .382 with a team high 84 hits and 19 doubles this season. Shortstop Lake Eiland paces the Blazers in runs batted in with 49 and boasts a .348 batting average. Tyler Wrinkle and Ryan Saunders share the team lead in home runs with five apiece. Wrinkle is hitting at a .360 clip and has also ripped 18 doubles and driven in 37 runs. As a team, Belhaven is hitting .311 and leads the NAIA in total triples with 33. The Blazers are seventh in the country in doubles with 122.

Belhaven's pitching staff is anchored by starters Allen Johnson and Brett Blaise. Johnson is 6-4 on the season with a 2.69 ERA. In 100.1 innings, Johnson has 73 strikeouts and is holding opposing hitters to a .236 batting average. Blaise is 8-1 in 2011 and owns a 3.25 earned run average. Blaise was named to the SSAC All-Conference Team, has worked 63.2 innings and recorded 60 strikeouts. Josh Clarke holds down the back end of the bullpen recording 10 saves from the closer's spot this season. Clarke is 4-2 with an ERA of 1.12. In 32 innings, Clarke has fanned 42 hitters and opponents are hitting just .174 against him. Belhaven's team ERA is 3.16 which is ninth best in the NAIA.

Fresno Pacific is led at the plate by Andrew Douglas and Wes Dorrell, Douglas is hitting .345 with 14 doubles and 32 runs batted in while Dorrell is hitting .324 with 18 doubles and 34 RBI's. The Sundbird's are hitting at a .282 clip as a team this season. Matt Mazzoni has recorded the most wins on the mound for Fresno Pacific this season and enters the national tournament with a record of 7-1. Mazzoni has 64 strikeouts in 81.1 innings of work. Jesse Darrah is 6-1 in 2011 with a 2.60 ERA leading the team in strikeouts with 90 in 79.2 innings on the hill. The Sundbirds team ERA stands at 3.33 in 2011.

Oklahoma City University (43-10) is the number one seed and ranked second in the final NAIA Top 25 Poll. They will play the winner of the game between fifth seeded Doane College (Neb.) (34-17) and fourth seeded University of Texas-Brownsville (35-24) who round out the field of five teams. The winners of the nine National Championship Opening Round tournaments, in addition to World Series host Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), will meet at the final site of the 55th Annual Avista-NAIA World Series from May 27-June 3 in Lewiston, Idaho.

The Opening Round Tournament webpage with all the up to date information on the tournament can be viewed by clicking here.