MANKATO, Minn. - The Minnesota State Mavericks (44-10), the 2012 NSIC regular-season and post-season tournament champions, have been selected to host the 2012 NCAA Division II Baseball Central Regional Tournament.

A Look at the Rangers: The Regis University Rangers are 32-21 overall and earned the sixth seed in the 2012 NCAA DII Central Region Tournament.  Owners of a seven-game winning streak, Regis earned an automatic bid to the regional tournament after knocking off Colorado State-Pueblo in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship game.  Coached by Dan McDermott, the Rangers are led by Alex Haag who owns a .378 batting average with 59 hits including 15 doubles and four home runs.  Regis is led on the mound by Aaron Harms who is 7-1 with a 2.79 earned run average.  Harms has allowed 16 earned runs this year on 47 hits.  As a team, the Rangers are batting .306 while the pitching staff owns a 5.08 ERA.

NSIC Tournament Champions: Minnesota State won the 2012 NSIC baseball tournament on Saturday, May 12 as the top-seeded Mavericks knocked off the second-seeded St. Cloud State Huskies by a score of 11-6.  

Already crowned the regular-season champions of the conference, MSU needed to beat SCSU twice to claim the post-season double-elimination tournament.  However, the Mavericks proved to be successful as they knocked off the Huskies, 9-7 earlier in the day before winning the final contest of the tournament.  The teams were tied at six after six innings in the championship game before MSU used back-to-back home runs over the left-field wall by junior Mike Eckhart and senior Matt Odegaard to retake the 8-6 lead.  Minnesota State added three more runs in the inning as junior Lucas Skjefte drew a bases-loaded walk, senior Matt Kuchenbecker was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and senior Pat Dockendorf recorded a sacrifice fly as MSU took an 11-6 lead where the score would remain.

All-Tournament Team: Six Mavericks were named to the 2012 All-NSIC Tournament Team including second baseman Matt Kuchenbecker, third baseman Pat Dockendorf, shortstop Connor McCallum, outfielder Mike Eckhart, designated hitter Jeremy Sudbeck and sophomore right-handed pitcher Jason Hoppe.

Tournament MVP: Junior outfielder Mike Eckhart was also named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after leading the Mavericks with a .480 batting average going 12-for-25 in the team's six games played.  Eckhart added eight runs scored, two home runs and six RBI while slugging .800 with a .536 on-base percentage.

To view complete postseason media guide click HERE