Wikipedia

2024 Southern Conference baseball season

The 2024 Southern Conference baseball season was the baseball season for the Southern Conference as part of the 2024 NCAA Division I baseball season. Samford was predicted to win the conference in the preseason poll.[1] The conference tournament was played from May 22 to May 26 at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, South Carolina.[2]

2024 Southern Conference baseball season
LeagueSouthern Conference
SportBaseball
Number of teams8
TV partner(s)ESPN+
Regular Season
Season championsUNC Greensboro
Season MVPCaleb Cozart (UNCG) (Coaches);
Cameron Sisneros (ETSU) (Media)
Tournament
ChampionsWofford
  Runners-upSamford
Finals MVPZac Cowan (WOF)
Seasons
2025 →

Regular Season

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The Southern Conference began conference play on March 22, and conference play ended on May 18. Each team was scheduled to play 21 conference games, barring any cancellations.

In regular season play, UNC Greensboro won the outright SoCon regular season title by one game. The eight SoCon baseball coaches voted Caleb Cozart of UNC Greensboro as 2024 SoCon Player of the Year, while the SoCon Sports Media Association voted Cameron Sisneros of East Tennessee State as 2024 SoCon Baseball Player of the Year.[3] Both the coaches and media selected Michael Ross of Samford as 2024 SoCon Baseball Pitcher of the Year, Daniel Jackson of Wofford as 2024 SoCon Baseball Freshman of the Year, and Cody Ellis of UNC Greensboro was voted 2024 SoCon Baseball Coach of the Year.[3]

Standings

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Pos Team Pld CW CL CPCT GB W L PCT Qualification
1 UNC Greensboro (C) 52 15 6 .714 — 33 19 .635 Qualification for the third round
2 Samford 54 14 7 .667 1 34 20 .630
3 East Tennessee State 52 13 8 .619 2 34 18 .654 Qualification for the second round
4 Western Carolina 52 13 8 .619 2 28 24 .538
5 Wofford (T) 52 12 8 .600 2.5 35 17 .673 Qualification for the play-in round & NCAA tournament
6 VMI 55 7 14 .333 8 27 28 .491 Qualification for the play-in round
7 Mercer 53 6 14 .300 8.5 26 27 .491
8 The Citadel 52 3 18 .143 12 21 31 .404
Source: Southern Conference[4]
(C) Regular season champion(s); (T) Tournament champion

Conference Game Results

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Home \ Away CIT ETSU MER SAM UNCG VMI WCU WOF
The Citadel 0–3 0–3 0–3
East Tennessee State 3–0 2–1 3–0
Mercer 1–2 1–2 1–1[a]
Samford 2–1 2–1 3–0 1–2
UNC Greensboro 2–1 2–1 2–1 3–0
VMI 2–1 1–2 2–1
Western Carolina 1–2 3–0 1–2 1–2
Wofford 3–0 2–1 2–1 1–2
Updated to match(es) played on May 19, 2024. Source: Southern Conference[5]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. ^ The final game of the MER-WOF series was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Tournament

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2024 Southern Conference
baseball tournament
Teams8
FormatSingle-elimination play-in, then six-team double-elimination tournament with championship game
Finals site
ChampionsWofford (2nd title)
Winning coachJ.J. Edwards (1st title)
MVPZac Cowan (WOF)
TelevisionESPN+

The 2024 Southern Conference baseball tournament was held from May 22 through May 26 at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, South Carolina. The winner of the conference tournament received an automatic bid to the 2024 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.

All eight SoCon baseball teams participated in the tournament, with the bottom four seeds playing in a single-elimination play-in round. The remaining teams then played a six-team double-elimination tournament, with the top two seeds receiving byes into the third round, and the third and fourth placed teams playing the play-in round winners in the second round.[2] The Samford Bulldogs were defending champions, having won the 2023 edition of the tournament.

Both play-in round winners, the Wofford Terriers and Mercer Bears, made it to at least the second-to-last day of the tournament, with Mercer losing in the third round and the lower semifinal, and Wofford losing their semifinal matchup to Samford before beating the Bulldogs twice in the championship.

The East Tennessee State Buccaneers and Western Carolina Catamounts both received byes into the second round, but fell to their opponents from the play-in round. The Buccaneers made it all the way to the lower final after their initial defeat, but the Catamounts fell to Mercer in their next game.

The UNC Greensboro Spartans and Samford Bulldogs received byes into the third round as the top two regular season teams. The Spartans lost both of their games, while the Bulldogs won all of their games up until the championship series against Wofford, where they lost two games to the Terriers.

With these two wins in the championship, Wofford won their first SoCon tournament title since 2007, which until this year, was their only SoCon tournament victory and NCAA tournament berth in program history. Wofford right-handed pitcher Zac Cowan received the Walt Nadzak Award, which is named after Walt Nadzak and awarded to the tournament's most outstanding player.[6]

Bracket

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Play-in roundSecond roundThird roundSemifinalsFinal
Game 5
Game 31UNC Greensboro2
Game 14Western Carolina15Wofford5
Game 9
5Wofford85Wofford127
5Wofford1
8The Citadel3
2Samford10
Game 6
Game 42Samford9
Game 23East Tennessee State47Mercer7
6VMI147Mercer7Games 12 and 13
7Mercer192Samford99
5Wofford1015
Lower third roundLower semifinalLower final
Game 7
3East Tennessee State10Game 11
1UNC Greensboro7Game 105Wofford13
3East Tennessee State123East Tennessee State10
Game 87Mercer4
4Western Carolina8
7Mercer10

Source: Southern Conference[2]

Schedule

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Game Time* Matchup# Score Reference
Day 1 (Wednesday, May 22)
1 3:00 p.m. #5 Wofford vs. #8 The Citadel 8-3 [7]
2 7:00 p.m. #6 VMI vs. #7 Mercer 14-19 [7]
Day 2 (Thursday, May 23)
3 3:00 p.m. #5 Wofford vs. #4 Western Carolina 12-17 [8]
4 7:00 p.m. #7 Mercer vs. #3 East Tennessee State 7-4 [8]
Day 3 (Friday, May 24)
5 9:00 a.m. #5 Wofford vs. #1 UNC Greensboro 5-2 [9]
6 12:30 p.m. #7 Mercer vs. #2 Samford 7-9 [9]
7 4:00 p.m. #3 East Tennessee State vs. #1 UNC Greensboro 10-7 [10]
8 7:30 p.m. #4 Western Carolina vs. #7 Mercer 8-10 [10]
Day 4 (Saturday, May 25)
9 12:00 p.m. #5 Wofford vs. #2 Samford 1-10 [11]
10 3:30 p.m. #3 East Tennessee State vs. #7 Mercer 12-4 [12]
11 7:00 p.m. #5 Wofford vs. #3 East Tennessee State 13-10 [12]
Day 5 (Sunday, May 26)
12 12:00 p.m. #2 Samford vs. #5 Wofford 9-10 [6]
13 3:40 p.m. #2 Samford vs. #5 Wofford 9-15 [6]
* Game times are in EDT.
# Rankings denote tournament seed.
Superscripted number next to scores denote games that use extra innings or the run rule.
Source: Southern Conference[2]

Conference leaders

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Final update provided on June 24, 2024.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Samford Tabbed as Favorite to Win SoCon Baseball Title". soconsports.com. Spartanburg, South Carolina. February 8, 2024. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "2024 Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  3. ^ a b "SoCon Baseball Postseason Awards Announced". soconsports.con. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  4. ^ "2024 Baseball Standings". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  5. ^ "Baseball - Composite Schedule". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c "Wofford wins 2024 SoCon Baseball Championship". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Wofford, Mercer Advance at SoCon Baseball Championship". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Wofford, Mercer Win at SoCon Baseball Championship". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Wofford, Samford Win at SoCon Baseball Championship". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 24, 2024.
  10. ^ a b "ETSU, Mercer Stay Alive at SoCon Baseball Championship". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  11. ^ "Samford tops Wofford to reach SoCon title tilt". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  12. ^ a b "Wofford Wins to Advance at SoCon Baseball Championship". soconsports.com. Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  13. ^ a b "The Automated Scorebook - Individual Statistics". southernconf_ftp.sidearmsports.com. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
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