LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Faulkner is just hours away from the first pitch back in the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round after a one year hiatus last season, however it is unfamiliar territory. After the hosting bid was not selected on May 1, the Eagles are on the road of the Opening Round for the first time since 2012 where they went 0-2 in Hardeeville, S.C. During that hosting duration, the Eagles were knocked out of any opening rounds inside the friendly confines of Harrison Field. 

Faulkner will open its 2024 Opening Round with a slew of new faces in the field in the seedlines behind and a very familiar foe looming in the one seed in a five team double-elimination bracket with one ticket to Lewiston, Idaho on the line for the victor. The importance of winning the opener goes well beyond just avoiding an early loss; a win guarantees not having to win two games Tuesday and two Wednesday to force a Thursday contest. A loss in its first game would force Faulkner to win five games over the following three days. A win would mean Faulkner would play just once on Tuesday as well and would only need two or three more games to go to Idaho over three or four games. 

The first game will be against the Ottawa (or better known as OUAZ) Spirit out of the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Spirit qualified for its first ever national tournament as an at-large after carrying a program's best 34-17 overall record despite scuffling in the GSAC with just a 10-14 record. The Spirit opened their season with a 3-1 series win over then No. 9 Taylor (Ind.) at home in Surprise, Ariz. OUAZ also holds series wins over The Master's (2-1) and Vanguard (2-1). OUAZ bats .300 as a team on the season with a team OPS of .849. Throughout the season, it has been a very patient team at the plate, drawing 255 walks. The Spirit are led by All-GSAC performers Joey Winters and Daniel Durazo. 

It will be the first contest against OUAZ ever for Faulkner across any sport and one of the first matchups with any Arizona-based school in recorded history. The noon matchup is the only game Faulkner will play Monday, win or lose. With a win, the Eagles will advance to a winner's bracket matchup with the winner of the third game between Georgia Gwinnett and the winner of Bushnell (Ore.) and Louisiana Christian Tuesday at 2 p.m. central. With a loss, the Eagles would play the loser of Bushnell and Louisiana Christian Tuesday morning at 10 a.m.

Bushnell, in just its third season of existence, won the Cascade Collegiate Conference by defeating No. 5 Lewis-Clark State at the fabled Harris Field twice in the tournament with dominant 13-5 and 8-2 wins; LCSC had not lost at home prior to those results. A matchup with Bushnell would also be the first in program history. 

Louisiana Christian won the Red River Athletic Conference defeating No. 4 LSU Shreveport twice along the way. The Wildcats and Eagles matched up once back in 2003 in the NCCAA World Series when Louisiana Christian was Louisiana College and the Eagles ran away with a 14-2 win.

The top seed Georgia Gwinnett is a very familiar face to the Eagles, especially on the national stage. The Eagles and Grizzlies have matched up three times in the postseason with GGC claiming all three games, with those all being in Lewiston in the last three trips to the World Series. However, Faulkner has won six of the eight contests in Lawrenceville and holds a 12-6 lifetime record against Georgia Gwinnett. The Grizzlies enter with an incredible 47-6 overall record in the Continental Athletic Conference and a 10-4 against teams receiving votes or better at game time. 

All the games will be live streamed by Georgia Gwinnett at https://www.youtube.com/@GGC_Athletics free of charge. Live stats can be followed on FaulknerEagles.com at https://faulknereagles.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary.