AUSTIN – Though their run to the HBCU Athletic Conference tournament championship fell short, Huston-Tillotson’s baseball team extended their season into May as they claimed one of the league’s two automatic bids into the 2026 NAIA Baseball National Championship tournament, which begins Monday, May 11.
The Rams will learn which of the 10 regional Opening Round sites in which they will compete Wednesday, May 6, when the NAIA airs its selection show at 4 p.m. The show will be streamed to the NAIA’s YouTube channel (@PlayNAIA).
The HT community is invited to join the baseball team for the showing of the selection show at the Agard-Lovinggood Auditorium on HT’s campus.
Under the direction of fifth-year head coach Chase Almendarez, the Rams will compete in postseason play beyond their conference tournament for the first time since 1998, when HT won the NAIA’s Big State Conference championship. HT then advanced to the NAIA’s Region VI tournament, hosted by Oklahoma City University.
(The NAIA was divided into defined geographic regions until the early 2000s decade. What are now the regional opening rounds of the national tournament were organized on a more autonomous, regional basis at the time, with the national office conducting only its NAIA World Series.)
The Rams are currently 33-18, having won 30 or more games for the first time this century. HT won the HBCU Athletic Conference’s West Division, and as the runner-up of the conference tournament, claimed one the league’s two automatic bids into the national tournament. The NAIA grants two automatic qualifying bids into the national tournament to conferences with 10 or more baseball teams, and most of their other sports.
The NAIA announced its 10 regional host sites last week. Defending NAIA national champion LSU–Shreveport, and Kansas Wesleyan are the two most likely destinations for the Rams, as they are two closest regional sites to Austin, and neither host school is a conference opponent of HT, though the Rams did compete alongside LSU–Shreveport in the Red River Athletic Conference until May 2025.
The Rams placed six players on the HBCU Athletic Conference’s First and Second Teams. Senior transfer Weston Bailey (Austin, Texas) was named to the all-conference First Team and was also named the league’s Newcomer of the Year and Pitcher of the Year after finishing the regular season with a 7-2 record. He has won his last eight starts after beginning the season 0-2, which included a win in his lone appearance the HBCUAC tournament.
Pitcher Ethan Walker was named to the league’s Second Team, along with four of his infield teammates: Payton Johnson (catcher), Noah Alvarez (first base), Josh Wilk (second base), and Trey Garza (third base). HT shortstop Tucker Allen was named to the conference’s All-Tournament team alongside Walker and Garza.
