1997 Trans America Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament

The 1997 Trans America Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament was held at Conrad Park on the campus of Stetson in DeLand, Florida. This was the nineteenth tournament championship held by the Trans America Athletic Conference. UCF won their fourth tournament championship in five years, and third in a row, and earned the conference's automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.[2]

1997 Trans America Athletic Conference
Baseball Tournament

Teams	6
Format	Double-elimination
Finals site	Conrad Park DeLand, Florida
Champions	UCF (4th title)
Winning coach	Jay Bergman (4th title)
MVP	Greg Pacitti, UCF

1997 Trans America Athletic Conference baseball standings
	Conf									Overall
Team	W		L		T		PCT			W		L		T		PCT
South
Stetson ^x‍‍‍^y	10	–	8	–	0		.556			37	–	26	–	1		.586
FIU ^x‍‍‍^y	10	–	8	–	0		.556			42	–	21	–	0		.667
Florida Atlantic ‍‍‍	8	–	9	–	0		.471			32	–	24	–	0		.571
UCF ‍‍‡‍^y	7	–	10	–	0		.412			40	–	24	–	0		.625
East
Mercer ^x‍‍‍	12	–	6	–	0		.667			36	–	23	–	0		.610
Georgia State ‍‍‍	10	–	8	–	0		.556			23	–	30	–	0		.434
Campbell ‍‍‍	7	–	11	–	0		.389			17	–	40	–	0		.298
College of Charleston ‍‍‍	7	–	11	–	0		.389			25	–	29	–	1		.464
West
Jacksonville State ^x‍†‍‍	14	–	4	–	0		.778			39	–	13	–	0		.750
Southeastern Louisiana ‍‍‍	11	–	7	–	0		.611			34	–	24	–	0		.586
Samford ‍‍‍	8	–	10	–	0		.444			31	–	29	–	0		.517
Centenary ‍‍‍	3	–	15	–	0		.167			11	–	39	–	0		.220
x – Division champion † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament As of June 30, 1997[1]; Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

Format and seeding

The top six finishers by overall winning percentage qualified for the tournament, with the top seed playing the lowest seed in the first round. Florida Atlantic and Jacksonville State did not qualify as they completed their transition from NCAA Division II.

Team W L T Pct. Seed South Stetson 34 22 1 .605 2 FIU 40 17 0 .702 4 Florida Atlantic 32 24 0 .571 — UCF 36 22 0 .621 6

Team W L T Pct. Seed East Mercer 36 21 0 .632 1 Georgia State 23 30 0 .434 — Campbell 17 40 0 .298 — College of Charleston 25 29 1 .464 —

Team W L T Pct. Seed West Jacksonville State 39 13 0 .750 — Southeastern Louisiana 34 22 0 .607 3 Samford 30 27 0 .526 5 Centenary 11 39 0 .220 —

Bracket

	First round					Second round					Third round					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Mercer	4
	6	UCF	11			6	UCF	17
						3	Southeastern Louisiana	9
	3	Southeastern Louisiana	5								6	UCF	8
	4	FIU	8								4	FIU	4
						4	FIU	3^12													6	UCF	14	—
						2	Stetson	2													2	Stetson	9	—
	2	Stetson	4													4	FIU	3
	5	Samford	3								2	Stetson	6			2	Stetson	4
						1	Mercer	0			5	Samford	3
						5	Samford	6

All-Tournament Team

The following players were named to the All-Tournament Team.[2]

POS	Player	School
P	Jeff Newman	Samford
	Eric Knott	Stetson
C	Eric Johnson	UCF
IF	Pat Williamson	UCF
	Clint Chrysler	Stetson
	Eric Riggs	UCF
	Bryan Bruce	UCF
OF	Sean Mahoney	FIU
	C.J. Fagan	Stetson
	Todd Bellhorn	UCF
	Gregg Pacitti	UCF

Most Valuable Player

Greg Pacitti was named Tournament Most Valuable Player. Pacitti was an outfielder for UCF.[2]

References

1. Atlantic Sun Baseball Record Book (PDF). Atlantic Sun Conference. p. 5. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
2. Baseball Record Book (PDF). Atlantic Sun Conference. Retrieved January 17, 2020.