For the second consecutive season, the St. Thomas baseball team (33-5) was named the top-seed for the NCAA midwest regional tournament beginning Wednesday in Whitewater, Wis.

The No. 2-ranked Tommies claimed the conference tournament title Sunday, defeating Concordia-Moorhead 11-2. While in Whitewater, St. Thomas will play for a spot in the NCAA championships.

St. Thomas is one of six teams in the double elimination regional tournament. The Tommies will face St. Scholastica in their first game of the regional. In other matchups, Wisconsin-Whitewater plays Case Western Reserve (Ohio) and Wisconsin-Stevens Point faces Benedictine (Ill.)

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season champ Whitewater comes into the regional ranked No. 5 nationally. Stevens Point comes in off a WIAC tournament championship and ranked No. 16 nationally. Case Western Reserve and St. Scholastica also received votes in the top 25 national poll.

Coach Chris Olean said he feels confident going into the regional given his team’s strong performance in recent weeks.

“We are playing some very solid baseball right now. (We are playing a) very complete game in terms of pitching, defense and hitting,” Olean said. “However, as you enter a region (tournament), everything starts over and it’s anyone’s ballgame, so we just have to continue to prepare and hope we’re hot this week.”

Pitcher Dylan Thomas also said the team is excited to begin tournament play given its recent success.

“We feel like we are playing really good ball right now, which is a great feeling coming into this regional series,” Thomas said.

As for their competition in the tournament, the Tommies are looking forward to the opportunity to play top teams in postseason play.

“St. Scholastica is a very solid program year-in-and-year-out,” Olean said. “I think it’s safe to say they would be the best No. 6-seed in all the regionals at this point.”

Olean also said the team is not fazed by having to play Whitewater on its home field despite the Tommies being the No. 1 seed in the regional.

“I have no issue playing (Whitewater) at home,” Olean said. “We beat them twice last year on their home diamond, and I feel their park plays to our strengths as well.”

Teams in the Midwest regional should be familiar with one another as St. Thomas is 3-3 this season against teams in this year’s regional field. Whitewater is 7-2, Benedictine is 1-1, Stevens Point is 4-5 and St. Scholastica is 1-5 against teams in the region.

“All the teams could give us a run,” Thomas said. “We just need to come out and play our game.”

Jacob Sevening can be reached at seve8586@stthomas.edu.