The Colonial Athletic Association reaches its regular-season conclusion this weekend, and the league championship is just about set—but not entirely. 

Five of the six spots in next week’s tournament are locked up, but after stumbling in its series against UNC Wilmington, Northeastern travels to Delaware for the most consequential set of the final weekend. 

The Huskies need to win one of the three games in Newark to avoid missing the CAA Championship. But despite the tight rope Northeastern now finds itself on, the Huskies also have the potential to improve their seeding with just a half-game of separation between the five and six seeds, and 1.5 games between sixth and fourth. 

Only the No. 1 overall seed is settled with Charleston clinching the regular-season championship. Hofstra, riding a five-game winning streak after its sweep of James Madison, will now be a big backer of the Dukes: JMU faces current No. 3 UNC Wilmington, with the Seahawks harboring a very real shot at climbing to second. 

UNCW won the season series against Hofstra and heads into the finale 1.5 games back of the Pride. Two Seahawks’ wins over James Madison vaults them ahead of the upstarts on Long Island. That second seed is big, meaning the difference between a bye into the May 26 slate and avoiding the opening round a day earlier. 

But UNCW isn’t playing with house money—not with William & Mary looming two games back at No. 4. The Tribe wrap up with Elon, and a sweep coupled with a JMU series win over the Seahawks would propel W&M into the third spot by virtue of its series win over UNCW back in March. 

UNC Wilmington Vs. James Madison

Thursday, May 19 at 6 p.m. ET; Friday, May 20 at 6 p.m. ET; Saturday, May 21 at 1 p.m. ET 

It’s a huge series for the Seahawks against a James Madison bunch playing for pride—or, in the case of a Hofstra team hoping to lock down the No. 2 seed, playing for the Pride. UNCW can move into the first round bye with a series win, aiming to build on an impressive winning streak that began last week against NC State. 

The Seahawks chipped away at a 5-0, first-inning deficit against the 2021 College World Series participants to win a 13-11 slugfest. UNCW then rode the momentum of that marquee victory with a series sweep of previously hot Northeastern. 

As UNCW’s bats have gained steam—the Seahawks scored 34 combined runs in last week’s four victories—so too has the team’s RPI. UNCW vaulted into the nation’s top 100 at No. 92 on the strength of the 4-0 showing. 

William & Mary Vs. Elon 

Thursday, May 19 at 6 p.m. ET; Friday, May 20 at 6 p.m. ET; Saturday, May 21 at 4 p.m. ET

Watch out for William & Mary, which has come roaring back from a rough April. 

The Tribe lost 9-of-10 to close out the month, but turned the calendar to May and immediately got back on track. A 10-4 win over Hofstra on May 1 ignited an ongoing, five-game winning streak that includes a 5-0 shutout of RPI top 50 Old Dominion and a series sweep of Delaware. 

W&M has some prospects at upward mobility in championship seeding, but first must contend with an Elon bunch that’s been solid in May in its own right. 

The Phoenix opened the month defeating UNCW, part of a five-game winning streak that included wins at Delaware, over North Carolina A&T, and a series defeat of Towson. Dropping one of the three games to the struggling Tigers dampered some of Elon’s hopes for climbing into the No. 4 spot, but the Phoenix can still avoid slipping to sixth with a series victory. 

Northeastern Vs. Delaware

Thursday, May 19 at 6 p.m. ET; Friday, May 20 at 3 p.m. ET; Saturday, May 21 at 1 p.m. ET

The rest of the weekend’s CAA series and their implications for championship seeding largely hinge on the results in other contests. Not so here. For Northeastern, the stakes are clear: win once, and the Huskies are in. 

For Delaware, nothing short of a sweep will do. It’s an unenviable spot for the Blue Hens, who have struggled of late, but not impossible.