Catawba Claims Regular Season Crown; SAC Tournament Seeding Announced
ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Catawba is the South Atlantic Conference Baseball Regular Season Champion, as the Indians finished the SAC portion of their 2024 schedule with a 24-6 record and an overall record of 37-12. Catawba will be the No. 1 seed in the South Atlantic Conference Baseball Championship, which will begin with the opening round on May 3-5, and concluding with a best-of-three series on May 10-11 at McCrary Park in Asheboro.
Coker finished the regular season with a 20-10 record placing them in the No. 2 slot.
Four teams finished with identical 18-12 marks where a tiebreaker was needed. In this scenario, Wingate earns the No. 3 seed. The four teams who all tied for third place didn't play each other so a tie would be broken based on the winning percentage against the next highest seeded common opponent. Wingate, Lincoln Memorial, Tusculum and Newberry's highest ranked common opponent is Carson-Newman. Wingate went 2-1 against the Bulldogs while the others went 1-2.
The No. 4 seed is determined by a three-way tiebreaker which Tusculum wins. Tusculum, LMU and Newberry didn't play each other and the highest seeded common opponent is Wingate. LMU and Tusculum went 2-1 against Wingate, while Newberry went winless. However, Tusculum went 2-1 against the Lincoln Memorial to break the tie.
The No. 5 seed is goes to Lincoln Memorial thanks to their three-game sweep of Newberry. Newberry earns the No. 6 seed.
Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne tied for seventh place in the regular season with a 16-14 SAC record. However, the Eagles took two-of-three from the Bears in the regular season to garner the 7-seed while LR rounds out the field as the 8-seed.
The double elimination 2024 SAC Baseball Championship will begin on May 3-5, with seeds 1, 4, 5, and 8 playing at Catawba and seeds 2, 3, 6, and 7 heading to the Coker. The two remaining teams after the opening round will meet for a best-of-three series at McCrary Park in Asheboro, N.C. on May 10-11 to determine the 2024 SAC Baseball Champion.
Friday, May 3 (Salisbury, N.C.)
Game 1: #5 Lincoln Memorial vs #4 Tusculum
Game 2: #8 Lenoir-Rhyne vs #1 Catawba
Friday, May 3 (Hartsville, S.C.)
Game 1: #6 Newberry vs #3 Wingate
Game 2: #7 Carson-Newman vs #2 Coker
Saturday, May 4 (Salisbury, N.C.)
Game 3: Winner Gm 1 vs Winner Gm 2
Game 4: Loser Gm 1 vs Loser Gm 2
Game 5: Loser Gm 3 vs Winner Gm 4
Saturday, May 4 (Hartsville, S.C.)
Game 3: Winner Gm 1 vs Winner Gm 2
Game 4: Loser Gm 1 vs Loser Gm 2
Game 5: Loser Gm 3 vs Winner Gm 4
Sunday, May 5 (Salisbury, N.C.)
Game 6: Winner Gm 5 vs Winner Gm 3, 12:00 p.m.
Game 7: Loser Gm 6 vs Loser Gm 6, 3:00 p.m. (if necessary)
Sunday, May 5 (Hartsville, S.C.)
Game 6: Winner Gm 5 vs Winner Gm 3, 12:00 p.m.
Game 7: Loser Gm 6 vs Loser Gm 6, 3:00 p.m. (if necessary)
Friday, May 10 – Saturday, May 11 (Asheboro, N.C.)
Championship Series
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