By: Daniel Hooker
WCU Athletics
Western Carolina to face Wofford on Thursday in game one of the tournament
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Western Carolina played its way into the 2021 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases after sweeping The Citadel Bulldogs Thursday and Friday in Charleston, S.C. The fourth-seeded Catamounts face the SoCon Red Division and regular-season champion, top-seeded Wofford, at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 27 at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C.
This year just four teams are participating in the double-elimination conference championship. The new format introduced the Red and Blue Divisions, with the two divisional champions automatically qualifying for the SoCon tournament. The two teams with the next two best records/winning percentages, regardless of the division, also qualified.
The conference tournament begins on Thursday, May 27, at 3:30 p.m., with top-seeded Wofford (35-19, 21-9 SoCon), who was selected third by both coaches and the media in the preseason poll, and No. 4 Western Carolina (26-19, 14-11). The Terriers claimed the No. 1 seed with their series win over Mercer in the regular-season finale.
The Catamounts enter the tournament on a four-game winning streak but dropped both series against the Terriers in the regular season. The winner of the first game will move on to face the winner of No. 2 Samford (32-22, 20-10) and No. 3 Mercer (35-20, 18-9), who play on Thursday, May 27, at 7 p.m.
2021 SoCon preseason favorite Samford won the Blue Division title before finishing its last regular-season series at ETSU. Mercer won two of three games against Samford in the teams’ regular-season meeting in April. The squads finished with identical SoCon winning percentages, but Samford took the tiebreaker by virtue of playing more league contests.
The games are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. each day of the championship. The title game will take place Saturday, May 29, at 7 p.m., with a second game, if necessary, to begin on Sunday, May 30, at Noon. The tournament winner earns the league’s automatic bid to an NCAA Baseball Regional.
All games will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with live audio coverage on the Catamount Sports Network.
May 27 (Thursday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 1: No. 1 Wofford vs. No. 4 Western Carolina, 3:30 p.m.
Game 2: No. 2 Samford vs. No. 3 Mercer, 7:00 p.m.
May 28 (Friday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 3:30 p.m.
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 7:00 p.m.
May 29 (Saturday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 5: Game 4 loser vs. Game 3 winner, 3:30 p.m.
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 7:00 p.m.
May 30 (Sunday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 7: Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser (If necessary), Noon