Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament
The Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament was the conference baseball championship of the Mid-American Conference, Division I members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In its final format, the top six finishers participated in the double-elimination tournament, which was most recently played at Crushers Stadium in Avon, Ohio, from 2012 through 2019. The winner of the tournament received an automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. The tournament began in 1981, but was not held from 1984 through 1991. It returned in 1992 and was held annually through 2019. It was scheduled to be played in May 2020, but was cancelled in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. As part of several changes announced in May 2020 related to the pandemic, the tournament was eliminated along with the post-season tournaments of seven other sports, for at least four seasons.[1] Kent State won the most tournament titles with 12, followed by Eastern Michigan with four.
| Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament | |
|---|---|
| Conference Baseball Championship | |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Conference | Mid-American Conference |
| Number of teams | 6 |
| Format | Double-elimination |
| Played | 1981–1983 1992–2019 |
| Last contest | 2019 |
| Current champion | Central Michigan (3) |
| Most championships | Kent State (12) |
| Official website | mac-sports |
| Host stadiums | |
| Campus sites (1981, 1983, 1992–2007) Franklin County Stadium (1982) V.A. Memorial Stadium (2008–2011) Crushers Stadium (2012–2019) | |
Format history
The event was a four team, double-elimination tournament from 1981 through its discontinuation after 1983 and again upon resuming from 1992 through 1997. Beginning in 1998, the format shifted to an eight team field, where it remained through the 2017 tournament. The tournament was reduced to six teams and the separate divisions were eliminated for 2018 following the loss of Akron in 2015 and Buffalo in 2017. The first All-Tournament Team and Most Valuable Player were named in 1992.
Champions
By year
The following is a list of tournament champions and sites listed by year.[2][3][4][5]
| Year | Site | Champion | Most Valuable Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Theunissen Stadium • Mount Pleasant, Michigan | Eastern Michigan | — |
| 1982 | Franklin County Stadium • Columbus, Ohio | Eastern Michigan | — |
| 1983 | Hyames Field • Kalamazoo, Michigan | Miami | — |
| No tournament held, 1984–1991 | |||
| 1992 | Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio | Kent State | Dustin Hermanson (Kent State) |
| 1993 | Kent State | Ryan Beeney (Kent State) | |
| 1994 | Central Michigan | Tim Fails (Kent State) | |
| 1995 | Steller Field • Bowling Green, Ohio | Central Michigan | Pat Mahoney (Central Michigan) |
| 1996 | Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio | Akron | Dave Yoder (Akron) |
| 1997 | Trautwein Field • Athens, Ohio | Ohio | Bart Leahy (Ohio) |
| 1998 | Steller Field • Bowling Green, Ohio | Bowling Green | Bob Niemet (Bowling Green) |
| 1999 | Ball Baseball Field • Muncie, Indiana | Bowling Green | Sean Ryan (Bowling Green) |
| 2000 | Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio | Miami | John Lackaff (Miami) |
| 2001 | Ball Diamond • Muncie, Indiana | Kent State | John Van Benschoten (Kent State) |
| 2002 | Steller Field • Bowling Green, Ohio | Kent State | Brad Snyder (Ball State) |
| 2003 | Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio | Eastern Michigan | Brian Bixler (Eastern Michigan) |
| 2004 | Theunissen Stadium • Mt. Pleasant, Michigan | Kent State | Ryan Ford (Eastern Michigan)/Andy Sonnanstine (Kent State) |
| 2005 | Hayden Park • Oxford, Ohio | Miami | Paul Frietch (Miami) |
| 2006 | Schoonover Stadium • Kent, Ohio | Ball State | Kyle Dygert (Ball State) |
| 2007 | Oestrike Stadium • Ypsilanti, Michigan | Kent State | Jason Patton (Kent State) |
| 2008 | V.A. Memorial Stadium • Chillicothe, Ohio | Eastern Michigan | Jack Leonard (Eastern Michigan) |
| 2009 | Kent State | Chris Tremblay (Kent State) | |
| 2010 | Kent State | Justin Gill (Kent State) | |
| 2011 | Kent State | David Starn (Kent State) | |
| 2012 | All Pro Freight Stadium • Avon, Ohio | Kent State | David Starn (Kent State) |
| 2013 | Bowling Green | Nick Bruns (Bowling Green) | |
| 2014 | Kent State | Cody Koch (Kent State) | |
| 2015 | Ohio | Logan Cozart (Ohio) | |
| 2016 | Western Michigan | Keegan Akin (Western Michigan) | |
| 2017 | Sprenger Stadium • Avon, Ohio | Ohio | Spencer Ibarra (Ohio) |
| 2018 | Kent State | Eli Kraus (Kent State) | |
| 2019 | Central Michigan | Griffin Lockwood-Powell (Central Michigan)[6] | |
| 2020 | Crushers Stadium • Avon, Ohio | Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic | |
By school
The following is a list of tournament champions listed by school and the years each team was eligible to play in the tournament.
| Program | Tenure | Titles | Title years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kent State | 1981–1983 1992–2020 | 12 | 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018 |
| Eastern Michigan | 1981–1983 1992–2020 | 4 | 1981, 1982, 2003, 2008 |
| Bowling Green | 1981–1983 1992–2020 | 3 | 1998, 1999, 2013 |
| Central Michigan | 1981–2020 1992–2020 | 3 | 1994, 1995, 2019 |
| Miami | 1981–1983 1992–2020 | 3 | 1983, 2000, 2005 |
| Ohio | 1981–1983 1992–2020 | 3 | 1997, 2015, 2017 |
| Akron | 1993–2015 2020 | 1 | 1996 |
| Ball State | 1981–1983 1992–2020 | 1 | 2006 |
| Western Michigan | 1981–1983 1992–2020 | 1 | 2016 |
| Northern Illinois | 1981–1982 1998–2020 | 0 | |
| Toledo | 1981–1983 1992–2020 | 0 | |
| Marshall | 1998–2005 | 0 | |
| Buffalo | 2001–2017 | 0 |
References
- Strack, Jordan (May 12, 2020). "Major changes coming to Mid-American Conference". WTOL. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- "Ohio Bobcats 2012 Media Guide" (PDF). ohiobobcats.com. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
- 2012 Miami RedHawks Baseball Media Guide (PDF). muredhawks.com. pp. 10–17. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
- "Mid-American Conference Tournament History" (PDF). Mid-American Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 9, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
- "All-Tournament Teams & Tournament MVP's" (PDF). Mid-American Sports. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
- "Chippewas Win First MAC Baseball Championship Since 1995". Mid-American Conference. May 25, 2019. Retrieved October 28, 2019.