smith-wills gets the call

It seems fitting somehow that Smith-Wills Stadium, in its 40th year of hosting baseball, would be chosen as one of nine sites for opening round competition in the NAIA national tournament. Belhaven University, which calls the old Jackson yard home, will get an automatic at-large bid as host of the regional. The five-team, double-elimination event will start May 12. “This takes a lot of heat off us,” Blazers coach Hill Denson said in a school release. BU is 33-14 and ranked 23rd, so it stood a decent chance of playing its way in, as well. The Blazers hosted a regional at Smith-Wills in 2010 and won it, advancing to the NAIA World Series. (William Carey hosted an NAIA opening round at Wheeler Field in Hattiesburg last season.) The Blazers bounced back from getting swept at Southern Poly over the weekend to beat Millsaps 4-1 on Tuesday in a Maloney Trophy Series game. Tougaloo visits Smith-Wills today.