FRISCO, Texas – Following the last regular-season games and resulting tiebreakers, the seeds and bracket for the 2021 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament have been finalized. Postseason play begins Wednesday, May 26, at the Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field in Hammond, La.
After being picked to finish 10th in the preseason poll, Abilene Christian claimed its first Southland Conference title and the No. 1 seed with 77 points in the final standings. Winners of 15 of their last 17 regular-season contests, the Wildcats are matched up with in-state foe Lamar at noon CT Wednesday.
In a four-game sweep of the Cardinals earlier this month, ACU extended its winning streak to nine games, the longest in the program’s Division I era. Earning the final spot in the tournament with a run-rule victory in its season finale, LU will make its first appearance in the conference tournament since 2017.
With 69 points, New Orleans grabbed the No. 2 seed, good for the highest finish by the Privateers since joining the Southland Conference. UNO will face No. 7 seed McNeese at 4 p.m. Wednesday as the teams split a four-game set April 30-May 2 with each team tallying 30 runs across the four games. McNeese enters as the defending tournament champions after making a successful run as the No. 5 seed in 2019.
After a 2-9 start to league play, A&M-Corpus Christi rattled off an 18-5 mark down the stretch to snag the No. 4 seed with 66 points. The Islanders just edged out preseason favorite Sam Houston, who took three of four from Nicholls to close out the season with 65 points. The Bearkats will look to channel their 3-1 regular-season series win when the teams open up the tournament at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Tournament host Southeastern Louisiana comes in as the No. 3 seed with 67 points and opted for the 7 p.m. slot for their first game of the tournament against No. 6 Northwestern State. The Lions and Demons didn’t meet in the regular season. Both with 64 points, NSU received the No. 6 seed over McNeese thanks to a 3-1 series victory earlier this month.
All games will be streamed live on ESPN+, culminating with the championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday.
{Press release courtesy of the Southland Conference}