ROCK HILL, S.C. --- For a 21st consecutive season, the Tusculum University baseball team has qualified for the South Atlantic Conference postseason and will be the No. 2 seed at the 2021 Pilot Flying J SAC Championship. The eight-team, five-day championship is being held at Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tennessee this Thursday through next Monday (Apr. 22-26).
The SAC Championship begins on Thursday with two single-elimination games as No. 5 seed Carson-Newman takes on No. 8 Mars Hill, followed by No. 6 Lenoir-Rhyne and No. 7 Coker. The winners of those two contests advance to the double-elimination portion of the tournament which starts on Friday.
Top-seeded Catawba (No. 26 in NCAA II) will face the lowest seeded team of Thursday's winners at 11 a.m. on Friday, while the Pioneers (No. 11 in NCAA II) will take on the highest seeded survivor from the single-elimination round on Friday at 2:45 p.m. No. 3 seed Newberry and No. 4 Wingate will close out Friday's action at 6:30 p.m.
Tournament play will continue on Saturday and Sunday with the Championship game slated for 12 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 posted a 6-1 record last week including a four-game SAC weekend sweep over Limestone. The Pioneers enter the tournament with a 29-9 overall record and went 25-7 in conference play. Tusculum's 25 SAC wins established a new league record, breaking the previous best of 24 posted by the Pioneers in 2012.
In their SAC Tournament history, the Pioneers have won the championship four times with the last coming in 2016 as TU and Catawba shared the tournament crown. The Pioneers have won the SAC Tournament in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016. Tusculum is 50-34 all-time in SAC postseason play.
2021 SAC Pilot Flying J Baseball Championship
Smokies Stadium | Kodak, Tenn.
Thursday, April 22, 2021 (single-elimination)
Game 1: No. 5 Carson-Newman vs No. 8 Mars Hill, 4:30 p.m.
Game 2: No. 6 Lenoir-Rhyne vs No. 7 Coker, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 23, 2021 (double-elimination begins)
Game 3: No. 1 Catawba vs lowest seed from GM 1 & 2, 11 a.m.
Game 4: No. 2 Tusculum vs highest seed from GM 1 & 2, 2:45 p.m.
Game 5: No. 3 Newberry vs No. 4 Wingate, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 24, 2021
Game 6: Game 3 loser vs Game 4 loser, 11 a.m.
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs Game 5 loser, 2:45 p.m.
Game 8: Game 4 winner vs Game 5 winner, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 25, 2021
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs Game 8 winner, 11 a.m.
Game 10: Game 6 winner vs Game 8 loser, 2:45 p.m.
Game 11: Game 10 winner vs Game 9 loser, 6:30 p.m.
Monday, April 26, 2021
Game 12: Game 9 winner vs Game 11 winner, 12 p.m.
Game 13: Game 12 winner vs Game 12 loser, 3 p.m. (if necessary)
