2013 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2013 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament was held at M. L. Tigue Moore Field on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana from May 22nd to May 26th, 2013. The tournament returned to the double-elimination format used prior to the two year experiment with pool play in 2011 and 2012. Florida Atlantic won their first tournament championship and earned the Sun Belt Conference's automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. Florida Atlantic joined the conference in 2006, and left for Conference USA after the 2013 season.[2][3][4][5][6]
| Teams | 8 |
|---|---|
| Format | Double-elimination |
| Finals site | |
| Champions | Florida Atlantic (1st title) |
| Winning coach | John McCormack (1st title) |
| MVP | Brendon Sanger, Florida Atlantic |
| Television | ESPN3/CSS |
| 2013 Sun Belt Conference baseball standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 23 Troy †y | 20 | – | 10 | .667 | 42 | – | 20 | .677 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Alabama †y | 20 | – | 10 | .667 | 43 | – | 20 | .683 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Louisiana–Lafayette y | 19 | – | 11 | .633 | 43 | – | 20 | .683 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 24 Florida Atlantic ‡y | 19 | – | 11 | .633 | 42 | – | 22 | .656 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Western Kentucky | 16 | – | 14 | .533 | 28 | – | 29 | .491 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas–Little Rock | 13 | – | 17 | .433 | 28 | – | 28 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIU | 13 | – | 17 | .433 | 26 | – | 32 | .448 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas State | 12 | – | 18 | .400 | 28 | – | 31 | .475 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Middle Tennessee | 11 | – | 19 | .367 | 28 | – | 28 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Louisiana–Monroe | 7 | – | 23 | .233 | 18 | – | 36 | .333 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament As of June 4, 2013[1]; Rankings from Collegiate Baseball | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seeding
The top eight teams (based on conference results) from the conference earned invites to the tournament. The teams were seeded based on conference winning percentage before playing a two bracket, double-elimination tournament. The winner of each bracket then played a championship final. Troy claimed the top seed over South Alabama and Louisiana–Lafayette earned the third seed over Western Kentucky by tiebreaker.[7]
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Troy | 20 | 10 | .667 | ||
| South Alabama | 20 | 10 | .667 | ||
| Louisiana–Lafayette | 19 | 11 | .633 | ||
| Florida Atlantic | 19 | 11 | .633 | ||
| Western Kentucky | 16 | 14 | .533 | ||
| FIU | 14 | 17 | .452 | ||
| Arkansas–Little Rock | 13 | 18 | .419 | ||
| Arkansas State | 12 | 18 | .400 | ||
| Middle Tennessee | 11 | 19 | .366 | ||
| Louisiana–Monroe | 7 | 23 | .233 |
Results
| First round | Second round | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Troy | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Arkansas State | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Troy | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Florida Atlantic | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Florida Atlantic | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Western Kentucky | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Florida Atlantic | 5 | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Arkansas State | 4 | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Arkansas State | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Western Kentucky | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | Troy | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Arkansas State | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Florida Atlantic | 16 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Louisiana Lafayette | 8 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Louisiana–Lafayette | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | FIU | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Louisiana-Lafayette | 9 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | South Alabama | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | South Alabama | 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Arkansas–Little Rock | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Louisiana Lafayette | 12 | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | South Alabama | 2 | — | ||||||||||||||||
| 6 | FIU | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Arkansas-Little Rock | 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 | South Alabama | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
| 6 | FIU | 6 | |||||||||||||||||
All-Tournament Team
The following players were named to the All-Tournament Team.[6]
| Name | School |
|---|---|
| Logan Pierce | Troy |
| Edwin Rios | FIU |
| John Koch | Arkansas State |
| Alex Potts | Arkansas State |
| Anthony Izzio | South Alabama |
| Nick Zaharion | South Alabama |
| Dex Kjerstad | Louisiana–Lafayette |
| Austin Robichaux | Louisiana–Lafayette |
| Jace Conrad | Louisiana–Lafayette |
| Ryan Wilson | Louisiana–Lafayette |
| Hugh Adams | Florida Atlantic |
| Mark Nelson | Florida Atlantic |
| Geoff Jimenez | Florida Atlantic |
Most Outstanding Player
Brendon Sanger was named Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Sanger played for Florida Atlantic.[6]
References
- "2013 Standings and Leaders". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
- "Conference Championship Central". ncaa.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
- "Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship". Sun Belt Conference. Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
- "Top-seeded Troy eliminated from Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament". al.com. May 24, 2013. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
- Matt Harris (May 26, 2013). "Florida Atlantic Claims First-Ever Sun Belt Baseball Tournament Title". wtvy.com. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
- "Florida Atlantic Claims First-Ever Sun Belt Baseball Tournament Title". Sun Belt Conference. May 26, 2013. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- "Troy top seed, South Alabama No. 2 in Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament". al.com. May 18, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.