The Sun Belt Conference has adjusted its conference baseball tournament.
The SBC announced Wednesday evening that after consultating with the league’s head coaches, the tournament games committee has decided to shift the Sun Belt Baseball Championship in Montgomery, Alabama to a single-elimination format.
In a statement, the SBC said “the decision was made following a significant weather delay on Wednesday and in consideration of Thursday’s weather forecast and student-athlete rest and recovery during postseason play.”
The statement further said, “the games committee must be confident that the double-elimination bracket would be completed prior to Sunday’s NCAA automatic qualifier deadline—and based on Wednesday’s weather delay and Thursday’s weather forecast it was not confident it could see that bracket to completion, necessitating the change to a single-elimination format.”
The SBC Tournament will take off Thursday and will return to action on Friday with four quarterfinal games. The semifinals will be played on Saturday and then the championship game will take place on Sunday. First pitch set for 1 p.m.
The Sun Belt Conference currently boasts the No. 6 RPI in the nation—trailing only the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and Conference USA.
South Alabama is the reigning Sun Belt tournament champion and owns a conference-best 13 all-time crowns. The Jaguars (65 RPI) are 1-of-5 Sun Belt baseball programs that currently rank among the Top 65 in the RPI, alongside Georgia Southern (10 RPI), Texas State (25 RPI), Coastal Carolina (27 RPI) and Louisiana (57 RPI). Sun Belt baseball programs have earned 17 NCAA berths over the past 10 seasons.
SBC Tournament Schedule
Friday – Quarterfinals
Quarterfinal 1: No. 6 Seed Troy vs. No. 3 Seed Coastal Carolina, 9:00 a.m.
Quarterfinal 2: No. 9 Seed App State vs. No. 2 Seed Ga. Southern. 12:30 p.m.
Quarterfinal 3: No. 5 Seed South Alabama vs. No. 4 Seed Louisiana, 4:00 p.m.
Quarterfinal 4: No. 10 Seed ULM vs. No. 1 Seed Texas State, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday – Semifinals
Semifinal 1: Winner Quarterfinal 1 vs. Winner Quarterfinal 2, 3:00 p.m.
Semifinal 2: Winner Quarterfinal 3 vs. Winner Quarterfinal 4, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday – Championship Game
Winner Semifinal 1 vs. Winner Semifinal 2, 1:00 p.m.