UNCP roundup: Baseball earns 4th straight NCAA Tournament berth

PEMBROKE — It was new year, same result for the 12th-ranked UNC Pembroke baseball team Sunday night as the Braves earned their fourth-straight berth into the NCAA Southeast Regional. The Black & Gold received the Conference Carolinas automatic qualifier bid by way of being crowned Conference Carolinas tournament champions. The berth marks the sixth time in the last seven full seasons the Braves have earned a spot in the 56-team field.

UNCP (42-12) will be the No. 4 seed in the three-team Catawba-hosted double-elimination tournament which begins Thursday and continues through Saturday. The Braves will battle fifth-seeded and former Peach Belt Conference foe, Young Harris (39-13), in Thursday’s opening round.

Conference Carolinas regular season champion North Greenville received the No. 2 seed and will host the other side of the bracket with a four-team tournament in Tigerville, S.C. Joining the Crusaders will be No. 3 seed Mount Olive, No. 6 seed Wingate, and No. 7 seed Georgia College.

The Braves joined North Greenville as the only two programs in the Southeast Region to receive four straight bids to NCAA postseason play.

The winner of each of the two brackets will lock horns in the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional round, May 24-25, for the right to advance to the NCAA Division II World Series at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary.

Thursday’s matchup will mark the 25th meeting between the Braves and Mountain Lions, with UNCP holding a 17-7 edge in the all-time series. The two squads have not met since the 2021 season when both programs were in the PBC.

Burkhart takes first at Dani Palooza Last Chance Meet

Delsin Burkhart finished off his illustrious career with an event title in the 800-meters at 1:53.04, but missed the NCAA Provisional mark by less than two seconds to highlight action at the Dani Palooza Last Chance Meet hosted by High Point on Sunday afternoon.

Cole Thomas finished seventh in the men’s pole vault to round out the action.

UNCP men’s 4x100 relay team logs NCAA provisional mark at Lenoir-Rhyne Last Chance Meet

The UNC Pembroke men’s track & field 4x100 relay team of Makhel Henry, Braylon Brooks, Ny’lon Fair-Steele, and Travon Morrow recorded an NCAA provisional mark at the Lenoir-Rhyne Last Chance Meet on Saturday at the Irwin Track at Moretz Sports Athletic Campus.

The squad crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 40.55, duplicating their NCAA provisional mark they posted at the Braves Classic in April.