The World Series is coming to Butler.

Pullman Park will play host to the National Club Baseball Association's Division IIWorld Series, an eight-team collegiate event, May 15 to 19.

The NCBAis in its eighth season and has grown from 34 teams in its first year to more than 160 this past season. Its founder and current president-treasurer is North Hills resident Sandy Sanderson.

"Our league is designed to give more kids an opportunity to play competitive college baseball," Sanderson said. "With the advent of Title IX, a lot of schools have dropped varsity baseball over the years.

"Many Division IIand IIIcaliber players attend Division I schools and give up baseball at that point. The NCBAgives them a chance to continue playing."

Sanderson, who is a longtime player for Saxonburg in the Eagle County League, was one of them, opting to attend Penn State University rather than play baseball at a smaller institution.

Carnegie Mellon, Penn State, Robert Morris and West Virginia are universities in this region that field NCBADivision IIteams.

Before the 2008 season, the NCBA, which is based in Pittsburgh,was all one division. This year, it divided teams into Division I and IIfor the first time.

"We just got too big,"Sanderson said.

There are eight districts comprising a total of 53 NCBADivision IIbaseball teams, with that number expected to increase to 58 by next season. The winner of each district qualifies for the World Series.

The first NCBADivision IIWorld Series was played in Huntingburg, Ind.

"That's a rural area and we were convinced by the hosts that people would come out to the games,"Sanderson said. "But our walk-up sales were only 20 or so, outside of players' families and fans of the teams that made the trip."

Sanderson contacted the city of Butler about possibly hosting the NCBAWorld Series event.

"Not a lot of people know about us and I was sure the folks who run Pullman didn't," Sanderson said. "The old Pullman Park couldn't have handled this. The new Pullman Park is perfect for it."

Jack Cohen, executive director of the Butler County Tourism &Convention Bureau, said in a released statement that this event will provide 200 room-night bookings for Butler area hotels.

"These visitors will not only sleep in our hotels, but they'll be eating in our restaurants and visiting our shops and attractions,"Cohen said.

Perry O'Malley of the Butler County Redevelopment Authority said negotiations to bring this World Series to Butler went on for two months.

"If everything goes well, we're going to negotiate a five-year contract to keep the event here,"O'Malley said.

"We're hoping this works out for the long term,"Sanderson said. "Having a permanent home would help us in the promotion and marketing of this event."

The eight World Series teams will be divided into two four-team brackets, where a double-elimination format will determine the bracket champions.

Those two teams will then meet in a game to determine the national champion. The University of Kentucky won the Division IItitle this year.

"There's still a few finishing touches we need to put on the ballpark, such as batting cages, additional bullpen mounds and parking,"O'Malley said. "But that will all be completed by next spring."

Other college baseball events are being booked at Pullman Park as well. Carnegie Mellon and Robert Morris will play a doubleheader there at noon Oct. 4. Indiana (Pa.) University plans to play some home games at the facility next spring.

Dess Schnur, director of stadium operations, projects 120 baseball games will be played at Pullman Park next season.

"Besides the colleges, we'll have Eagle County games there, and Butler City, Center Township and Meridian Legion teams want to play their home games there,"Schnur said.

"We're trying to bring in a team in the (college) prospect league and if that happens, we'll book the other dates around that."