CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – For the first time in American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) history, the two teams from Dubuque would face each other in a league baseball tournament championship contest. The #5 seeded Spartans upset the #1 seeded Buena Vista University Beavers in the first game on Saturday 4-2. The win sent UD to the championship final where they lost the tournament championship 7-12 to the Loras College Duhawks. UD won the A-R-C title and A-R-C Tournament Title in 2018.

The final day of the American Rivers Conference tournament hosted by the University of Dubuque began with an upset as UD knocked out #1-seed and A-R-C Regular Season Champions, Buena Vista Beavers, out of the tournament by a score of 4-2. In the opening game of the day, there was a three hour and 29 minute rain delay which halted play.

The schedule was adjusted to avoid weather conditions, but was altered again with weather moving in quicker than predicted, so the championship game began at 3:55 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. UD faced Loras, who went undefeated on the weekend winning games over #6-seed Wartburg (15-5, 8 inn.), #2-seed Luther (13-3), and #1-seed Buena Vista (9-6), #5 seed UD (12-7) en route to the title.The Spartans beat #4 seed Coe by a 6-4 margin. UD lost to #1 seed BVU in the second round by a 0-5 final score. The Spartans knocked #2 seed Luther out of the tournament on Friday night by a 3-2 margin. Saturday morning UD would face BVU Beavers in a rematch from Thursday's game and held off BVU with strong pitching in the 4-2 victory.

2023 A-R-C Baseball Tournament Program

• 2023 A-R-C Standings
• 2023 A-R-C Statistics
• Conference Tournament History

2023 American Rivers Conference Tournament

Thursday, May 11:
Game 1 - 11:00 a.m. - No. 3 Loras, 15 vs. No. 6 Wartburg, 5 (8 inn.)
Game 2 - 11:00 a.m. - No. 4 Coe, 4 vs. No. 5 Dubuque, 6
Game 3 - 2:00 p.m. - No. 5 Dubuque, 0 vs. No. 1 Buena Vista, 5
Game 5 - 3:00 p.m. - No. 4 Coe, 4 vs. No. 6 Wartburg, 3 (11 inn.)
Game 4 - 5:00 p.m. - No. 3 Loras, 13 vs. No. 2 Luther, 3 

Friday, May 12 (All Games at Veterans Memorial):
Game 6 - 12:00 p.m. - No. 1 Buena Vista, 6 vs. No. 3 Loras, 9
Game 7 - 3:00 p.m. - No. 2 Luther, 4 vs. No. 4 Coe, 1
Game 8 - 6:00 p.m. - No. 2 Luther, 2 vs. No. 5 Dubuque, 3
Exception: If one of the Game 3 or 4 Losers already has had a bye, that team will play in Game 7, regardless of seed.

Saturday, May 13 (All Games at Veterans Memorial):
Game 9 - 9:30 a.m. - No. 5 Dubuque, 4 vs. No. 1 Buena Vista, 2
Game 10 - 3:55 p.m. - No. 5 Dubuque, 7 vs. No. 3 Loras, 12

The NCAA regional round takes place May 18-21 followed by the 16-team super regional round the following weekend. Eight teams will emerge from the super regional round to line up at GP Cares Field at Veterans Memorial stadium for the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships June 2-8. The American Rivers Conference and the Cedar Rapids Kernels (High A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins) will host the Division III Championships for the final year in 2023. To purchase tickets or find out more on the 2023 NCAA Division III College World Series, visit the championship page by CLICKING HERE.