LEWISTON, Idaho –  (Tournament Central) The 2025 Avista NAIA Baseball World Series begins Friday (May 23), at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho. The championship, in its 68th year, is the seventh oldest among the championships conducted by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and 33 of those championships have been played in Lewiston, including every World Series since 2000.
 
In all, 598 of the 1,125 total games played in the previous 67 championships have been played in Lewiston, and Friday’s 11:30 a.m. game between top-seeded LSU Shreveport (La.) and Grand View (Iowa) will mark the 600th NAIA World Series Game played in Lewiston.
 
If 600 isn’t historic enough, that game features a team on a chase for more history, as LSU Shreveport enters 54-0, just the second team to come into the NAIA World Series undefeated. The first happened in 1959, when the University of Nebraska-Omaha entered at 18-0, and LSUS is also chasing the record for consecutive wins across all divisions of college baseball, a mark held by Howard Junior College, in 2009. Howard won 57 in a row and finished with an overall record of 58-1.
 
LSUS will meet a team that hasn’t been to the Series since 1991, in No. 10 seed Grand View. The Vikings are looking to become the second No. 10 seed to win the championship, the last in 2014, by Cumberland (Tenn.). Since seeds were introduced in 2003, the top seed has won four championships, and No. 3s lead the field with five titles.
 
Loyola (La.) is the only team playing in its first Series, in 2025, becoming the 206th team to make it to Lewiston, all-time. The Wolfpack aren't without World Series experience, though, as head coach Jeremy Kennedy brings his third school to the Series in 2025. Kennedy coached Northwood (Texas) to the Series in 2013, and Keiser (Fla.) in 2017. He's just the second head coach to bring three schools to the NAIA World Series.
 
In all, 12 teams have won the World Series in their first appearance, including Southeastern (Fla.), who did it last in 2018. The Fire are one of four teams in the field to win the championship previously, a group that also includes Georgia Gwinnett, Tennessee Wesleyan, and last year’s national champion, Hope International (Calif.). The Royals look for back-to-back Red Banners for the first time since Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) won three in-a-row, between 2015 and 2017.
 
Hope International will play the first game in the series (No. 599), against Cumberlands (Ky.), followed by game No. 600 between LSUS and Grand View. Two more Friday games will feature Tennessee Wesleyan and Loyola, at 3 p.m., and Georgia Gwinnett meeting British Columbia at 7 p.m. UBC is in the World Series for the first time since 2006.
 
A final first-round game will take place Saturday, as Webber International (Fla.) meets Southeastern (Fla.) in a battle from The Sun Conference, at 11 a.m. The last time two teams from the same conference played one another in a Series opener was 2011, and the last time two teams from the same state met to open the Series was 2009. Southeastern and Georgia Gwinnett are making a 2025 Series-best seventh-straight appearance in Lewiston.
 
The official World Series Bracket, Schedule, Visitors Guide, and a link to World Series Tickets are available at NAIA.org, on the baseball sport page, and Game Notes will be updated nightly, in PDF format.
 
To watch the 2025 Avista NAIA World Series, visit NAIA.org/watch.