NAPERVILLE – The six-team, double-elimination College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Baseball Tournament will officially get underway Wednesday at noon at Augustana’s Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field in Moline, Ill.
 
All six teams will play once on Wednesday with elimination games beginning as early as Thursday at 11 a.m. The 2023 tournament is 38th annual CCIW Tournament and the fourth tourney to include at least six teams.
 
Competition also begins Friday at 11 a.m. with the championship game beginning as early as 11 a.m. Saturday. The tournament schedule is subject to change.
 
Top-seed Augustana will open the event Wednesday at noon against #6 Carroll. At 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, #2 North Central will play #5 Illinois Wesleyan and #3 Millikin draws #4 North Park in Wednesday’s nightcap at 7 p.m.
 
#1 Augustana
Augustana will host the tournament as the event’s #1 seed after going 16-2 in the CCIW with the outright regular-season title for the first time since 2014. Nine Vikings were named to the All-CCIW Team on Tuesday and 26th-year head coach Greg Wallace was voted CCIW Coach of the Year for the fourth time.
 
The Vikings, who won last season’s CCIW Tournament in Naperville, Ill., have won 16 consecutive games and are ranked 17th nationally by D3baseball.com. The Vikings finished the 2023 league schedule as the league’s top scoring team with 8.9 runs scored per game and with a CCIW-low 3.55 earned-run average.
 
#2 North Central
The second seed at the tournament is North Central. The Cardinals posted a 12-6 league mark and will be in search of their first CCIW Tournament championship since 2019. NCC won nine consecutive games from April 8 through April 25, was the only team to beat Augustana during the regular season (twice) and has won 13 of its last 16 overall.
 
The Cardinals hit a league-best .334 as a team against CCIW opponents.
 
#3 Millikin
Millikin won four of its last five league contests to snag the tournament’s third seed. The Big Blue finished the league slate 11-7, one game behind North Central. MU is in the tournament field for the fourth consecutive time and won the 2021 event with a 4-3 win over North Central in the final in Carol Stream, Ill.
 
MU joins Augustana as the only teams in the conference to have a sub-4.00 ERA in conference play (3.77) and boasts the league’s top defense with a .979 fielding percentage.
 
#4 North Park
North Park is in the CCIW Tournament for the fifth consecutive season and will look to take the next step after roaring out of the gate with two consecutive wins to begin last season’s tournament. The fourth-seeded Vikings went 9-9 during the conference schedule thanks to a 12-day stretch (April 18-29) in which NPU won seven times.
 
The Vikings, who turned a league-best 15 double plays this spring in conference play, have won at least one game in each of their last four CCIW Tournament appearances. NPU will be aiming for its first tourney title since 2012.
 
#5 Illinois Wesleyan
Illinois Wesleyan won two of its last three CCIW games – including a doubleheader split with North Central last Saturday – to earn the #5 seed with a 9-9 mark. The Titans are back in the field for the first time since 2021 and are just four years removed from playing in the title game in 2019.
 
The Titans – who earned wins against seven different CCIW teams this season – will aim to create offense on the basepaths this weekend. IWU swiped 29 bags in 18 CCIW games, second-most in the league behind Millikin.
 
#6 Carroll
Carroll – which never participated in the CCIW Tournament prior to 2021 – is now making its third consecutive trip to the CCIW postseason. The sixth-seeded Pioneers won eight CCIW games, bolstered by a 6-1 to the league schedule in early April. 
 
CU is 2-4 all-time in the CCIW Tournament, which included back-to-back wins to begin the 2021 tournament. Four position-player regulars and right-handed pitcher Brett Buzzelli remain from the 2021 squad that toppled North Park on day one and North Central on day two of the tourney.