The Coe College baseball team has been assigned to the Midwest Regional in La Crosse, Wis., for the NCAA Division III baseball tournament this week.

Coe (31-12) will face St. John's of Minnesota (26-14) in the opening round Wednesday at 10 a.m. Coe is seeded No. 5 in the regional and St. John's is seeded No. 4.

The Kohawks secured an automatic spot in the playoffs by winning the Iowa Conference tournament Saturday. This is the sixth trip to the NCAA tournament in school history and the fourth under Coach Steve Cook since 2006.

Coe will compete in an eight-team regional with Concordia-Chicago, Ripon, St. John's, St. Scholastica, Washington University, Wisconsin- La Crosse and Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Wisconsin-Whitewater is the defending national champion and the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional. Coe and Whitewater could meet in the second round Thursday.

St. John's won the MIAC tournament to make the regional.

The Wartburg Knights, who lost to Coe in the championship game of the Iowa Conference tournament, received an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament and have been assigned to the Central Regional at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo.

Wartburg, located in Waverly, had already been designated as the host school for the Central Regional before the Iowa Conference tournament was held.

Fifty-six teams were selected for the NCAA Division III playoffs. There are eight regionals around the country. Four of the regionals have eight teams and four regionals have six teams.

There are six teams in the Central Regional in Waverly, compared to eight teams in the Midwest Regional in La Crosse. All of the regionals are double-elimination.

Forty conference champions made the tournament, along with 16 at-large selections.

The eight regional champions will advance to the NCAA Division III finals May 22-27 in at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis.