The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

A PAIR of Bahamian collegiate baseball players saw their respective programmes earn at-large bids in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

Ellison Hanna II and the Indiana State Sycamores are the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Nashville Regional while Allbry Major and the Arizona State Sun Devils are the No. 2 seed in the Austin Regional.

Each of the 16 regional fields features four teams, playing in a double-elimination format.

The Sycamores open postseason play at 1pm local time Friday, June 4 against the No. 2 seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Nashville, Tennessee.

Indiana State finished the season 30-19 and were runners-up in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships.

Hanna was selected to the MVC Baseball All-Tournament team. The redshirt senior outfielder finished the tournament hitting .278 (5-18), with five runs, nine RBI and three home-runs.

In 23 games this season, he hit .312 with 24 hits, 20 RBI, 23 runs, five home runs, five doubles, two triples.

The Sun Devils will take on Fairfield on Friday at 7pm local time in Austin, Texas, in the first ever matchup between the two programmes.

Friday will mark the first-ever meeting between the Sun Devils and the Stags. ASU is 19-29 in a storied history against Texas while also never having played Southern in programme history.

Major is in his first season on the field for the Sun Devils after he transferred from the Xavier Musketeers. In his redshirt junior season, he hit .200 with 11 hits, 10 RBI, nine runs scored and two home runs.

As an outfielder and pitcher, he was a standout two-way player for Xavier in the Big East for the first few years of his collegiate career where he garnered numerous accolades.

As a freshman in 2018, Major won BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, was Second Team All-BIG EAST and was also named Baseball America’s Preseason BIG EAST Freshman of the Year.

He hit .291 with a pair of home runs and 21 RBI. On the mound he posted a 4.96 ERA with 54 strikeouts in 16 appearances, including eight starts. As a sophomore, he started 51 games and hit .281 with seven home runs and 34 RBI.