The Georgia Gwinnett College baseball team will be heading west to Santa Barbara, California, as a No. 1 seed for the Opening Round of the 2021 NAIA tournament, scheduled May 17-20.

The Grizzlies, with a 42-9 record and No. 6 national ranking, earned the top seed in the five-team, double-elimination tournament that's taking place at Westmont College.

GGC will open play Monday, May 17, against the winner of the day's first game between No. 4 seed University of Saint Katherine (California) and No. 5 seed Corban College (Oregon).

The other first-day game in the Santa Barbara Bracket will feature No. 2 seed Hope International University (California) facing No. 3 seed Westmont.

Play is scheduled to continue Tuesday, May 18, until the championship round starts on Wednesday, May 19. A winner-take-all contest, if needed, would be played Thursday, May 20.

Game times for all tournament games will be announced later by the host school.

Georgia Gwinnett College, led by Head Coach Jeremy Sheetinger, is making its seventh appearance in the NAIA Opening Round and advanced to the Avista NAIA World Series in the last two national tournaments (2019 and 2018). The team qualified this year by winning the Association of Independent Institutions championship.