The 1996 Atlantic 10 Conference Baseball Championship was held at Bear Stadium in Boyertown, Pennsylvania from May 10 through 12. The double elimination tournament featured the top two regular-season finishers of each of the conference's six-team divisions. East Division top seed Massachusetts defeated Virginia Tech in the title game to win the tournament for the third time, earning the Atlantic 10's automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA tournament.[1]
| Teams | 4 |
|---|---|
| Format | Four-team double elimination |
| Finals site |
|
| Champions | Massachusetts (3rd title) |
| Winning coach | Mike Stone (2nd title) |
| MVP | Nate Murphy (Massachusetts) |
Seeding and format
editEach division's top teams, based on winning percentage in the 20-game regular season schedule, qualified for the field. In the opening round of the four-team double-elimination format, the East Division champion played the West Division runner-up, and vice versa.
| Team | W | L | T | Pct. | GB | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
East Division
| ||||||
| Massachusetts | 15 | 5 | 0 | .750 | – |
1E
|
| Temple | 12 | 8 | 0 | .600 | 3 |
2E
|
| St. Bonaventure | 10 | 10 | 0 | .500 | 5 |
–
|
| Fordham | 8 | 11 | 1 | .425 | 6.5 |
–
|
| Saint Joseph's | 8 | 11 | 1 | .425 | 6.5 |
–
|
| Rhode Island | 6 | 14 | 0 | .300 | 9 |
–
|
West Division
| ||||||
| Virginia Tech | 16 | 4 | 0 | .800 | – |
1W
|
| Xavier | 11 | 8 | 0 | .579 | 4.5 |
2W
|
| George Washington | 10 | 10 | 0 | .500 | 6 |
–
|
| Dayton | 8 | 11 | 0 | .421 | 7.5 |
–
|
| La Salle | 8 | 12 | 0 | .400 | 8 |
–
|
| Duquesne | 6 | 14 | 0 | .300 | 10 |
–
|
Bracket
edit| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | |||||||||||
| 1E | Massachusetts | 16 | |||||||||||
| 2W | Xavier | 3 | |||||||||||
| 1E | Massachusetts | 1 | |||||||||||
| 1W | Virginia Tech | 4 | |||||||||||
| 1W | Virginia Tech | 4 | |||||||||||
| 2E | Temple | 2 | |||||||||||
| 1W | Virginia Tech | ||||||||||||
| 1E | Massachusetts | ||||||||||||
| Lower round 1 | Lower final | ||||||||||||
| 1E | Massachusetts | 6 | |||||||||||
| 2W | Xavier | 6 | 2W | Xavier | 1 | ||||||||
| 2E | Temple | 3 | |||||||||||
All-Tournament Team
editThe following players were named to the All-Tournament Team. Massachusetts's Nate Murphy, one of five Minutemen selected, was named Most Outstanding Player.[2]
1996 was the first time the league named an All-Tournament Team. Previously, it had named only a Most Outstanding Player and Pitcher.
| Pos. | Name | Team |
|---|---|---|
| P | David Dart | Massachusetts |
| P | Brian Fitzgerald | Virginia Tech |
| C | Michael Gancasz | Temple |
| SS | Brad Gorrie | Massachusetts |
| P | Jon Hand | Virginia Tech |
| C/DH | Josh Herman | Virginia Tech |
| C | Andy Kiah | Massachusetts |
| 3B | Bryan Mazzaferro | Massachusetts |
| OF | Nate Murphy | Massachusetts |
| OF | Austin Rappe | Virginia Tech |
| SS | Marty Sparks | Xavier |
References
edit- ^ "2014 Atlantic 10 Baseball Record Book" (PDF). Atlantic10.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 19, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
- ^ "College Baseball". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 15, 1996. Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2014.