FRISCO, Texas – No. 25 Texas State will be the top seed in the 2009 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament when it begins Wednesday at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Bobcats claimed their third regular-season championship and their first outright title last weekend after finishing the regular season with a 38-14 overall record and 24-7 mark in conference play.
Texas State will play No. 8 seed Stephen F. Austin, which finished the season 23-30 overall and 14-18 conference play. That game will be Wednesday at 4 p.m. Lamar and UT Arlington are the other two teams on that side of the bracket. The Cardinals drew the No. 4 seed and the Mavericks are the No. 5 seed and will play at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Lamar finished 36-20 overall and 20-13 in the Southland while UT Arlington finished 29-24 and 19-13. The winners of those two games advance to play Thursday at 7 p.m., while the losers will move to the loser’s bracket and will meet at noon on Thursday.
The tournament gets underway Wednesday at 9 a.m. when No. 3 seed UTSA will square off against No. 6 Northwestern State. UTSA finished 31-22 overall and 20-12 in the Southland while the Demons were 26-24 overall and 18-13 in league play. The other half of the bracket pits No. 2 seed Southeastern Louisiana with No. 7 seed Sam Houston State, which is the two-time defending tournament champion. That game will be played Wednesday at noon. Southeastern Louisiana finished 35-20 overall and 21-12 in the conference while the Bearkats were 32-22 overall and 18-14 in league action. The winners of these two games advance to play Thursday at 4 p.m. while the losers will play Thursday at noon.
This marks the 23rd year of the Southland Conference baseball tournament. It began in 1964 though no tournament was played between 1969 and 1992. Since it resumed in 1993, Texas State and Sam Houston State each have won three tournament championships. The regular-season champion has won the tournament seven times though that has happened just twice since the tournament resumed in 1993. Lamar is the last to have won both championships, doing so in 2004. Texas State was a division winner in 1997 and emerged to win the tournament title.
The schedule has four games on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Two “if-necessary” games would be played Saturday before the championship game, which will be played at 6 p.m. and be televised by the Southland Conference Television Network.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will serve as the tournament host at Whataburger Field, home to the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Double-A minor league affiliate of the Houston Astros. This marks the first time since th 1998 season the tournament was not played on one of the Southland campuses.
Tickets for the event are available by calling either the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ticket office at 361-825-2255 or Corpus Christi Hooks ticket office at 361-561-4796. Tickets are also available at Whataburger Field or online at www.cchooks.com. An all-tournament ticket is available for $50 while individual session tickets are available for $10 for adults and $5 for youth. Day tickets are available for $15 for adults and $10 for youth. Students at Southland institutions may get in free by showing a valid student ID card.
SLC NOW, the streaming video and audio channel at Southland.org, will stream all 15 games of the tournament. Streaming for the entire tournament is available for $14.95 while each game is available for $4.95.
Southland Conference Baseball Tournament Seeds
1. Texas State, 24-7
2. Southeastern Louisiana, 21-12
3. UTSA, 20-12
4. Lamar, 20-13
5. UT Arlington, 19-13
6. Northwestern State, 18-13
7. Sam Houston State, 18-14
8. Stephen F. Austin, 14-1
Opening Round Matchups
Wednesday, May 20
No. 6 No vs. No. 3 UTSA, 9 a.m.
No. 7 Sam Houston State vs. No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana, Noon
No. 8 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 1 Texas State, 4 p.m.
No. 5 UT Arlington vs. No. 4 Lamar, 7 p.m.
