The Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament is the conference championship tournament in baseball for the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams particip ...

. The winner of the tournament receives the conference's automatic bid to the

NCAA Division I baseball tournament The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team Men's College World Series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb ...

. After

Coastal Carolina University Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

hosts the competition in

Conway, South Carolina Conway is a city in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 24,849 at the 2020 census, up from 17,103 in 2010 census. It is the county seat of Horry County and is part of the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area. It is the ho ...

, in 2019, the tournament will move to a neutral site,

Riverwalk Stadium Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium is the home of the Montgomery Biscuits of the Southern League. The minor league baseball ballpark opened in Montgomery, Alabama in 2004. Located in downtown Montgomery, the stadium can host up to 7,000 people a night ...

Montgomery, AL Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 2020 ...

, from 2020 to 2024.

Tournament

The Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament is a ten team

double-elimination tournament A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimina ...

held annually at various sites in the

region. The bottom four seeds play a one round single elimination play in game. The six teams with the best conference record at the end of the regular season earn automatic berths in the tournament. After the play-in round, the remaining eight teams will play 2 four team double-elimination brackets with a single elimination championship game between the bracket winners. The division winner with the best conference record will be seeded #1 and will play the lowest remaining seed from the play-in round. The winner of the other division will receive the #2 seed (regardless of overall conference ranking) and will play the higher seeded play-in game winner. The champion of the competition receives an automatic bid to the

History

The tournament started in 1978 as a four team double-elimination tournament. In 1979 the tournament expanded to include six teams but still remained double-elimination. The tournament expanded again in 1980 and included seven teams. In 1981 the conference was divided into divisions and the top two teams in each division made the tournament, returning it to a four team double-elimination format. It remained that way through 1985. In 1986 the conference retained the division format but expanded the tournament to include the top four teams in each division, making the tournament an eight team double-elimination tournament. In 1987, the conference returned to the a four team double-elimination format. The tournament format was changed again in 1988 when it expanded to include the top three teams in each division, now making it a six team double-elimination tournament. In 1995, the conference dropped the division format but kept the tournament format as a six team double-elimination tournament through 1998. In 1999, the tournament expanded to an eight team double-elimination format. The format was a double bracket round robin in 2011-2012. In 2017, the Conference expanded the field to 10 teams, with the bottom four seeds playing a single-elimination play-in round before the standard eight team double-elimination bracket.

Champions

By Year

By school

As of July 1, 2022, there are 14 schools in the conference that competes in baseball.

Tournament

History

Champions

By Year

By school

Current members

Former members

External links

References