Field: Fourteen teams will be selected May 7. Seven conference champions will be awarded automatic bids. The other teams will be selected at large.

Dates and sites: First-round games will be played May 10, quarterfinals May 14 and semifinals May 21 on campus. The championship game will be May 28 at Maryland's Byrd Stadium.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand number is 770/563-1133 (pin code 1915). The request number for championship-game results is 5129. Results also will be published in the June 5 issue of The NCAA News.

Championship notes: The first year of automatic qualification will result in teams from the Commonwealth Coast and Middle Atlantic Conferences advancing to the tournament for the first time. If MIT doesn't win the Pilgrim League, at least one other tournament newcomer will make the field. MIT last made the field in 1980. The last team to get a bid from the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association, which also has an automatic bid, was Clarkson in 1992. Defending champion Salisbury State, which hammered then second-ranked Gettysburg, 14-3, on April 1, appears to be the class of the field.