DANVILLE, Ky. - Centre College coach Drew Briese is thrilled his Colonels will be hosting a regional pod in the 2026 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament this weekend. However, he also knows it takes more than just playing at home to win NCAA games.

"The biggest advantage of hosting is that there is a certain comfort level playing at home. The familiarity with the surface and dimensions of the field, sleeping in your own bed. Those are the biggest advantages," said Briese, who has Centre in the NCAA tourney for the third straight year.

What about crowd support? Is that a big advantage for the home team?

"Honestly, I don't think about the crowd too much. I hope people come out and enjoy the product on the field," the Centre coach said. "My focus is between the lines. We usually have great crowds for SAA (Southern Athletic Association) games and for night games.

"I am hoping for the sake of the players that we have energetic crowds. I know our students love to come and watch games and maybe potentially that could be an advantage for us. I think we will have a lot of family and students (at the games) and it has been awesome to hear from so many members of the community who do not come out every weekend (to games) and are interested in seeing us now."

Centre won the SAA Tournament to get into the NCAA. The Colonels, 31-13 overall after going 10-1 in their last 11 games, will play Piedmont (30-13) Friday at 2:30 p.m. after Washington University (28-11) plays Aurora (31-12) at 11 a.m. Piedmont went 12-6 in the Collegiate Conference, a league that sent three teams to the NCAA tourney. Piedmont scored 35 runs in four wins in its conference tournament.

The double elimination affair will have three games on Saturday with two set for Sunday to determine which team advances.

Briese admits he was "shocked" just like his players were when Centre was picked to host a NCAA pod after being only the fourth seed in the SAA Tournament.

"I thought there was maybe a 10 to 15 percent chance we could host but wacky things work out in terms of geography and moving teams into a certain area in the NCAA," Briese said. "We are certainly centrally located for a lot of Division III colleges."

Centre's senior-laden team set lofty preseason goals — winning the conference and hosting a NCAA pod. Before the late surge, it didn't look like either goal was possible.

"We left Texas in mid-April (after playing Southwestern) and we were not playing very well," the coach admitted. "It was not like our goals had vanished but they seemed further away than at any point during the season."

Centre responded by winning six straight games to regain its momentum for a big finish.

"We jumped 60 points in the (national) rankings. It was kind of a storybook start to a great finish," Briese said.

Centre's offense scored eight runs in the SAA tourney winner's bracket win over Rhodes and then 11 runs in the title game win over Rhodes.

"You hope the offense can come out and play like that every day but that is not necessarily the way baseball works. In my 20 years of coaching I have never seen two first innings like that in high leverage games," he said. "In an elimination game getting six runs in the first inning puts your opponent in a really tough spot."

Centre's defense was just as good as the offense.

"Baylor Woodall was unbelievable at third base and Ayden Lohr put on a Gold Glove performance in center," Briese said.

Lohr's play included a brilliant running catch of a deep fly ball that saved at least two runs in the first win over Rhodes.

"In my 20 years of coaching, that was one of the top two or three catches I have seen," Briese said.

Going into the SAA Tournament Briese felt he had a deep pitching staff that could endure the rigors of double elimination play and he was right.

Zach Heavern got two wins with eight innings of relief where he allowed only one run. Aidan Carr worked 7 1/3 innings in relief giving up two runs. Tommy Severson threw five hitless innings in relief in game three.

Starters Harrison Cowdrey, Nolan Asher and Isaac Rone worked 15 2/3 innings and gave up only seven runs. Cowdrey started games one and four.

"We had a simple plan. Don't run the starters too deep into the game knowing some guys might have to come back on short rest. We used six pitchers — three starters, three relievers — in the tournament and they gave us a shot to win every game," Briese said. "Our offense did not have to score 12 runs every game for us to win."

Centre assistant coaches Taylor Valentine and Rory Costello started checking statistics, watching video and talking to other coaches who have played Washington University, Aurora and Piedmont as soon as the pairings were announced.

"A couple of the teams really like to run. We have Evan Weyler behind the plate and that is a deterrent to teams trying to steal bases," the Centre coach said. "Aurora tries to slug home runs and doubles.

"We know how we play best and how we have to play. I feel really good about where we are just like I did going into the SAA Tournament."