The 2018 Southern Conference baseball tournament was held from May 22 through 27 at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, South Carolina. The annual event determines the conference champion of the Southern Conference (SoCon) in NCAA Division I college baseball. Samford won their second tournament championship and earned the league's bid to the 2018 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. This was the last of 20 athletic championships held by the conference in the 2017–18 academic year.[2]
Teams | 9 |
---|---|
Format | two bracket Double-elimination tournament with championship game |
Finals site | |
Champions | Samford (2nd title) |
Winning coach | Casey Dunn (2nd title) |
MVP | Brooks Carlson (Samford) |
Television | SoCon DN |
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UNC Greensboro | 18 | – | 3 | .857 | 37 | – | 13 | .740 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Samford | 16 | – | 8 | .667 | 32 | – | 24 | .571 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wofford | 15 | – | 9 | .625 | 35 | – | 21 | .625 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VMI | 12 | – | 12 | .500 | 26 | – | 25 | .510 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mercer | 11 | – | 13 | .458 | 35 | – | 20 | .636 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
East Tennessee State | 11 | – | 13 | .458 | 27 | – | 23 | .540 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Furman | 9 | – | 12 | .429 | 24 | – | 26 | .480 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Citadel | 8 | – | 16 | .333 | 19 | – | 33 | .365 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Western Carolina | 5 | – | 19 | .208 | 7 | – | 45 | .135 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
‡ – Tournament champion As of May 19, 2018[1] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball |
The tournament was originally held from 1950–53, when the SoCon was a large conference composed of several small schools and several large schools, the latter of which would form the Atlantic Coast Conference after the 1953 season. The event was re-established in 1984 and has been held every year since. Defending champion Western Carolina has claimed ten championships, the most of any school, with The Citadel close behind at eight tournament wins. Furman is the only other school current school with multiple championships, having won two. East Tennessee State and VMI have never won a title, although they both returned to the conference in 2015 after over ten years in other conferences. Mercer claimed the conference championship in its first ever appearance in 2015.
The tournament was played in Greenville, which had hosted five of the previous nine events.[3]
Seeding and format
editAll nine teams participated in the tournament, with the bottom two seeds playing a single-elimination play-in round. The remaining teams were then divided into two brackets and played double-elimination tournaments.[4]
Team | W | L | Pct | GB | Seed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
UNC Greensboro | 15 | 3 | .833 | - | 1 |
Samford | 12 | 6 | .667 | 3 | 2 |
Wofford | 11 | 7 | .611 | 4 | 3 |
VMI | 10 | 8 | .556 | 5 | 4 |
East Tennessee State | 9 | 9 | .500 | 6 | 5 |
Mercer | 10 | 11 | .476 | 6.5 | 6 |
Furman | 7 | 11 | .389 | 8 | 7 |
The Citadel | 6 | 12 | .333 | 9 | 8 |
Western Carolina | 4 | 17 | .190 | 12.5 | 9 |
Bracket
editPlay-In Round
editTeam | R |
---|---|
#9 Western Carolina | 6 |
#8 The Citadel | 5 |
Double-elimination round
editUpper round 1 | Upper round 2 | Upper final | Final | |||||||||||||||||||||
1 | UNC Greensboro | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | Western Carolina | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | Western Carolina | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Mercer | 157 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
4 | VMI | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Mercer | 197 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Mercer | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | Samford | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | Wofford | 810 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | East Tennessee State | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | Samford | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | Wofford | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | Samford | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
7 | Furman | 0 | 2 | Samford | 12 | — | ||||||||||||||||||
5 | Mercer | 4 | — | |||||||||||||||||||||
Lower round 1 | Lower round 2 | Lower round 3 | Lower final | |||||||||||||||||||||
1 | UNC Greensboro | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1 | UNC Greensboro | 11 | 3 | Wofford | 7 | 5 | Mercer | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
4 | VMI | 7 | 1 | UNC Greensboro | 4 | 9 | Western Carolina | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
9 | Western Carolina | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | East Tennessee State | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | East Tennessee State | 5 | 9 | Western Carolina | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||
7 | Furman | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Baseball standings". SoConSports.com. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
- ^ "2017-18 Southern Conference Championship Schedule". soconsports.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
- ^ "2018 Baseball Championship". Southern Conference. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
- ^ "2018 Southern Conference Baseball Championship Bracket" (PDF). Southern Conference. Retrieved November 13, 2017.