ROCK HILL, S.C. --- For an 18th consecutive year, the Tusculum baseball team has qualified for the South Atlantic Conference postseason and will be the No. 5 seed at the 2017 Pilot/Flying J SAC Championship. The eight-team, five-day championship is being held at Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tennessee from Apr. 27-May 1.
Tusculum (27-17) finished fifth in the final conference standings and will open the single-elimination portion of the tournament on Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. when they face a familiar opponent in eighth-seeded Wingate. TC and Wingate wrapped up the conference season this past weekend where the Bulldogs won two of the three games.
Also playing in a single-elimination game on Thursday will be No. 6 seed Coker taking on No. 7 seed Carson-Newman at 7 p.m.
The winners of Thursday's games will advance to the double-elimination portion of the tournament which starts on Friday.
Catawba won its fifth straight SAC Championship and will be the No. 1 seed in this year's SAC Tournament. Catawba posted a 19-5 record, edging out runner-up Lincoln Memorial who finished 18-6 in the conference and will be the No. 2 seed this week.
Catawba will face the lowest seeded team from Thursday's winners at 12 p.m. on Friday while LMU will face the highest seeded team remaining from the elimination games at 3:45 p.m.
Newberry earned the No. 3 seed with a 16-8 mark, while Mars Hill finished fourth at 14-9, one-half game ahead of Tusculum who went 14-10. Mars Hill was unable to finish its home weekend series with Carson-Newman on Sunday due to rain and is awarded the No. 4 seed. Newberry and Mars Hill will wrap up Friday's schedule at 7:30 p.m.
Tournament play will continue on Saturday and Sunday with the Championship game slated for 1 p.m. Monday afternoon. The winner of the Pilot/Flying J SAC Baseball Championship will receive the league's automatic bid to next month's NCAA Division II Tournament.
Tusculum and Catawba were declared co-champions of the Pilot/Flying J SAC Baseball Championship last year. Severe weather which included heavy rains, hail and lightning moved into the area in the eighth inning which rendered the field unplayable. Tusculum held a 6-5 advantage after the seventh inning, which was the last completed full inning before the storms arrived to cause the second weather delay of the day.
Catawba, the 2016 regular season champion, earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA II postseason per the conference's policy regarding unfinished tournaments. The Catawba Indians claimed their seventh SAC Tournament championship in school history, while Tusculum (36-16) won the SAC Tournament crown for a fourth time. TC has won the SAC Tournament in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016.
2017 SAC Baseball Championship
Smokies Stadium | Kodak, Tenn.
Thursday, April 27, 2017 (single-elimination)
Game 1: No. 5 Tusculum vs. No. 8 Wingate, 4 p.m.
Game 2: No. 6 Coker vs. No. 7 Carson-Newman, 7 p.m.
Friday, April 28, 2017 (double-elimination begins)
Game 3: No. 1 Catawba vs. lowest seed from Games 1 & 2, 12 p.m.
Game 4: No. 2 Lincoln Memorial vs highest seed from Game 1 & 2, 3:45 p.m.
Game 5: No. 3 Newberry vs. No. 4 Mars Hill, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Game 6: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, Noon
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 loser, 3:45 p.m.
Game 8: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 12 p.m.
Game 10: Game 6 winner vs. Game 8 loser, 3:45 p.m.
Game 11: Game 10 winner vs. Game 9 loser, 7:30 p.m.
Monday, May 1, 2017
Game 12: Game 9 winner vs. Game 11 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 13: Game 12 winner vs. Game 12 loser, 4 p.m. (if necessary