HILLSBORO, Kan. – The National Intercollegiate Athletic Association (NAIA) released the 46-team field for the 2024 NAIA Baseball Opening Round Tournaments this afternoon. The Bluejays are slated to play in the Fayette Opening Round Tournament in Fayette, Mo. on Monday at 11am and will meet the host school and No. 2 seeded Central Methodist University in their first matchup. 
 
The Bluejays come in as the No. 3 seed in the Fayette bracket and are making their eighth appearance in the NAIA Tournament in program history and their first since the 2022 season, when they traveled to Bellevue, Neb. Tabor comes into the NAIA Opening Round with wins over tournament teams Reinhardt, Mid-America Christian, Oklahoma Wesleyan, and Freed-Hardeman.
 
Tabor comes into the matchup with an overall record of 35-14, coming off a trip to the KCAC Tournament in Great Bend last week as the No. 2 overall seed. The Bluejays won their first-round matchup with No. 7 seeded Avila, 6-3, before falling to No. 3 seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan, 6-4. The Bluejays fell to No. 6 seeded Friends to end their run in Great Bend on Saturday, 12-4. 
 
Central Methodist comes into the NAIA Tournament with an overall record of 43-9, winning the Heart of America Athletic Conference regular season title. The Eagles took a trip to Ozark, Mo. for the Heart Tournament last week, winning their first game over No. 4 seeded Park, but dropped their second game to No. 3 seeded Mount Mercy, and bowed out of the trip early with a loss in the elimination bracket to Park.
 
Last time the Bluejays made it to the NAIA Opening Round, they were placed in the Bellevue bracket. The Bluejays met Central Methodist in the opening game of that postseason appearance as well, soaring over the Eagles in a 5-2 victory, before falling to hosts Bellevue, 7-2 and Concordia Nebraska, 7-5, in the elimination bracket. 
 
The Bluejays and the Eagles have met eight times, with the all-time series between the two programs beginning in 2004 when Central Methodist swept Tabor in a four-game series to take an early 4-0 lead on the series. The Bluejays got their first win of the series in 2013 in a neutral-site contest in Topeka, Kan., dropped another in 2020, and picked up their second and most recent win in 2022. The Eagles currently own the series with a 6-2 overall record over the Bluejays, with Central Methodist taking the most recent meeting in 2023, 9-2. 
 
Head Coach Mark Standiford was proud of his team, "We earned this opportunity, we always preach leading up to when the season starts that there are three different seasons within the season, you have your non-conference that is important for this very reason, to get at-large bids and to help build your resume, you've got your conference season which gives you a chance to earn an automatic berth, and then you have your postseason, which offers you a chance to get in the tournament through that. I feel like the combination of the teams we played early turned out to help us build our resume and allowed us to get in, as well as the strength of our conference and how many quality teams it had this year."
 
"This is an exciting time of year and it's something that we look forward to. Everybody has a chance starting now and that's all you can ask for. Our goal is to get to Lewiston, but we have a big road ahead of us, having to go through Central Methodist and a tough Fayette Opening Round."
 
"I'm really proud of our guys, they put a lot of work into this season and for them to have a chance to get rewarded and have a chance to get to Lewiston is important. This is an expectation for guys when they come into our program, we aren't just here to compete, but to compete for a championship with the goal of making it to Lewiston", remarked Standiford.
 
"It means a lot to me to make the tournament, to put Tabor Baseball back on the map", stated Bluejay second baseman Tyler Mata Lloyd. "Doing something like this that helps make this program successful really makes me happy because they do so much for you here and the only thing that we can do in response is to play hard because we respect the coaches, the school, and our teammates, that's really what makes this place special."
 
One thing that outfielder Isaiah Cohens believes has helped the success of the program this year is the variety of experience the players in this program have had coming into the year, "I feel like it helps that we have a lot of guys who have come to Tabor from championship programs, and they know what it takes to win, they know how to take care of business and what it takes to get to the tournament."
 
Pitcher and Wichita native Payton Tinkler expressed his thoughts about playing close to home this season and the impact of having the support of friends and family on him and his teammates as they make their postseason run, "One of those things that's important for those of us from around this area is that all of our families get to come out and support us and it feels great having that community here."
 
The Bluejays will head east to Fayette, Mo. for their Opening Round date with Central Methodist on Monday. First pitch will take place at 11am and the game will be broadcast on the Heart Conference Network. Other resources for the Fayette Opening Round will be available here and information for all of the NAIA Opening Round sites is available on the NAIA Baseball site. Tickets will be available to purchase for fans planning on making the trip.
 
Be sure to stay up to date with all information regarding Bluejay Athletics by following us on X at @gotaborbluejays, on Instagram and Facebook @taborbluejays, and on our official athletic website, taborbluejays.com.
 
Tabor College is a Christ-centered institution located in Hillsboro, Kansas. The Bluejays are members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and compete in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC).