Here we are! Conference tournament weekend! Come Sunday evening, every conference in the country will have crowned a champion. A fair amount of regional tournament spots are already accounted for thanks to early conference tournaments, regular season champions in conferences without tournaments, and some teams already being so far on top of their region it won't matter what happens this weekend. However, there are a spectacular amount of games taking place this weekend that should entertain every D-II baseball fan in the country. Below you'll find the conference tournament line-ups (or already-crowned champions) with links to their respective tournament pages, as well as some small previews of the regions.
** ATLANTIC REGION **
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament
Champions: Chowan (26-23) (Unranked in regional ranking)
Mountain East Tournament
May 12-15
#N1 Shepherd (Atlantic #5)
#S1 West Virginia State (Atlantic #7)
#N2 Notre Dame (Ohio)
#S2 Glenville State
#N3 West Liberty
#S3 Concord
Win and you're in for the Mountain East. It will be tough to get more than one team in, with as strong as the PSAC is.
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament
May 8-11
#E1 Millersville (Atlantic #1)
#W1 Mercyhurst (Atlantic #3)
#E2 West Chester (Atlantic #2)
#W2 Seton Hill (Atlantic #6)
#E3 East Stroudsburg (Atlantic #4)
#W3 Gannon (Atlantic #8)
#E4 Shippensburg
#W4 California
The PSAC is already in to their last day of competition, as Seton Hill and West Chester will do battle for the right to face Millersville in the title game on Wednesday afternoon. Millersville has their spot in the region pretty much guaranteed at this point, while Seton Hill and West Chester could both use some reassurance to guarantee their own spots.
** CENTRAL REGION **
Great American Conference Tournament
May 6-8, 12-14
#1 SW Oklahoma State (Central #4)
#2 Arkansas-Monticello (Central #7)
#3 SE Oklahoma State
#4 Henderson State
#5 Southern Arkansas
#6 East Central
#7 Harding
#8 Arkansas Tech
This could be another "win and you're in" situation, as the MIAA and NSIC are dominating this region's rankings. We are down to the final four teams in this tournament, as Henderson State, Arkansas Tech, Arkansas-Monticello and SE Oklahoma State are the final four teams standing. Any winner besides UAM would be an upset in the tournament and most likely steal an at-large bid away from someone from the MIAA or NSIC.
Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament
May 12-15
#1 Central Missouri (Central #3)
#2 Emporia State (Central #10)
#3 Washburn (Central #8)
#4 Missouri Western (Central #9)
#5 Missouri Southern
#6 Northeastern State
#7 Central Oklahoma
#8 NW Missouri State
This will be a dogfight behind UCM for the right to get in to the regional tournament. UCM should have their spot wrapped up, while the other seven teams will all be looking to sneak in to the regional with strong performances or a tournament victory.
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament
May 12-15
#1 Minnesota-Duluth (Central #2)
#2 Augustana (Central #5)
#3 St. Cloud State (Central #1)
#4 Minnesota State (Central #6)
#5 Concordia-St. Paul
#6 Minnesota-Crookston
#7 Northern State
#8 Sioux Falls
The strength of the region, without a doubt, this should be a fun conference tournament to watch. UMD and SCSU might be the two best teams in the region, and they are ranked as such, while Augustana and Minnesota State are on the fringe right now.
** EAST REGION **
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament
May 12-14
#1 Felician (East #4)
#2 Chestnut Hill
#4 Philadelphia
#6 Dominican
Any winner here besides Felician will be an upset that steals an at-large bid away from another team in the region.
East Coast Conference Tournament
May 12-14
#1 St. Thomas Aquinas (East #3)
#2 Dowling
#3 Molloy (East #5)
#4 Bridgeport
Though not as big of a situation as above, STA is almost assured a regional spot right now, while a victory by any other squad could spell trouble for a fringe at-large team from the other conferences.
Northeast-10 Conference Tournament
May 10-12
#NE1 Franklin Pierce (East #1)
#SW1 Adelphi (East #8)
#NE2 Southern New Hampshire (East #2)
#SW2 Pace (East #9)
#NE3 Merrimack
#SW3 Le Moyne (East #7)
#NE4 Assumption
#SW4 Saint Rose
This has the potential to be the most fun conference tournament to watch, with the top two teams in the region on a collision course.
** MIDWEST REGION **
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament
May 12-15
#1 Grand Valley State (Midwest #2)
#2 Ashland (Midwest #6)
#3 Malone
#4 Wayne State (Mich.)
#5 Walsh
#6 Hillsdale (Midwest #7)
A little surprising that GVSU has been able to hold on to the #2 spot in the region, and they should be assured their regional tournament spot regardless of the outcome here. A victory by any teams besides GVSU or Ashland would be a mild upset.
Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament
May 12-15
#E1 Southern Indiana (Midwest #3)
#W1 Missouri S&T (Midwest #5)
#E2 Indianapolis (Midwest #4)
#W2 Quincy (Midwest #1)
#E3 Bellarmine
#W3 Rockhurst
#E4 Illinois-Springfield
#W4 William Jewell
The class of the region, we have four of the top five teams in the region doing battle. It isn't often you'll see the top seed in the region as, essentially, the #4 seed in the conference, but that's what we have here with Quincy. What might be more interesting is that the #8 (Lewis) and #9 (Missouri-St. Louis) teams in the Midwest regional rankings aren't even in the conference tournament and will be watching with baited breath, hoping for the top seeds to win the tournaments in all three of the conferences in this region.
Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament
May 11-14
#1 Trevecca Nazarene (Midwest #10)
#2 Kentucky Wesleyan
#3 Alderson Broaddus
#4 Cedarville
#5 Ohio Valley
#6 Davis & Elkins
It will be a gigantic upset here if someone outside of TNU takes the victory.
** SOUTH REGION **
Gulf South Conference Tournament
Champion: Delta State (38-15) (South #5)
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament
Champion: Claflin (24-27) (Unranked in regional ranking)
Sunshine State Conference (No conference tournament)
Teams still in contention: Tampa (39-7, 18-3 SSC, South #1) & Nova Southeastern (35-15, 18-6 SSC, South #3)
The South region is all wrapped up, for the most part. Tampa has a little bit of clean-up work to do in the last weekend of the season in the SSC. Claflin has locked up the final seed in the regional tournament, while Tampa should be the top seed. Delta State notched their automatic bid in the GSC Tournament, while Nova Southeastern, West Florida and probably West Alabama should all have spots locked up as well. It will be interesting to see what happens with Alabama-Huntsville considering they were #10 in the last regional rankings and fought their way to the GSC title game.
** SOUTH CENTRAL REGION **
Heartland Conference Tournament
May 12-14
#1 St. Edward's (South Central #4)
#2 Lubbock Christian (South Central #3)
#3 Oklahoma Christian (South Central #8)
#4 St. Mary's
Lone Star Conference Tournament
May 12-14
#1 Angelo State (South Central #5)
#2 Texas A&M-Kingsville (South Central #2)
#3 West Texas A&M (South Central #6)
#4 Cameron
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament
May 12-14
#1 Colorado Mesa (South Central #1)
#2 CSU-Pueblo
#3 Colorado Mines (South Central #7)
#4 Adams State
A pretty balanced region outside of the #1 team (Mesa), this should be an entertaining set of conference tournaments to watch all across the board.
** SOUTHEAST REGION **
Conference Carolinas Tournament
Champion: Mount Olive (29-19) (Unranked in regional ranking)
Peach Belt Conference Tournament
May 11-15
#1 Columbus State (Southeast #2)
#2 Lander (Southeast #1)
#3 USC Aiken (Southeast #4)
#4 Georgia College (Southeast #8)
#5 Augusta
#6 Montevallo
#7 Flagler
#8 North Georgia
South Atlantic Conference Tournament
Champion: Catawba/Tusculum Co-Champions
Auto-Bid: Catawba (34-18) (Southeast #5)
Mt. Olive has already stolen an at-large bid from a team with their Conference Carolinas tournament victory, and Catawba notched their spot in the regional with a victory as well. The other spots should belong, fairly easily, to Columbus State, Lander and USC Aiken, leaving a few spots to fight over with Belmont Abbey, Tusculum, Erskine, Georgia College and Newberry.
** WEST REGION **
California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament
May 11-14
#1 Cal Poly Pomona (West #4)
#2 Cal State-East Bay (West #8)
#3 Cal State-Monterey Bay (West #3)
#4 UC San Diego
#5 Cal State-San Bernardino
#6 Chico State (West #5)
Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament
May 12-13
#1 Northwest Nazarene (West #6)
#2 Montana State-Billings (West #7)
#3 Western Oregon
Pacific West Conference (No conference tournament)
Champion: California Baptist (39-11) (West #1)
The CCAA will have a heck of a slate lined up, with one of the better teams in the region appearing in the conference tournament as the final seed. Chico will have some work to do to lock themselves in to the regional tournament, while even CSU-MB and CPP aren't guaranteed spots in the regional, either. Outside of California Baptist (and almost assuredly Dixie State) in the PacWest being in the regional tournament, the rest of the spots are still up in the air.
In the west region. I like GNAC Champion Northwest Nazarene in Idaho.
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