2013 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament

The 2013 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament was held at M. L. Tigue Moore Field on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana from May 22nd to May 26th, 2013. The tournament returned to the double-elimination format used prior to the two year experiment with pool play in 2011 and 2012. Florida Atlantic won their first tournament championship and earned the Sun Belt Conference's automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. Florida Atlantic joined the conference in 2006, and left for Conference USA after the 2013 season.[2][3][4][5][6]

2013 Sun Belt Conference
Baseball Tournament

Teams	8
Format	Double-elimination
Finals site	M. L. Tigue Moore Field Lafayette, LA
Champions	Florida Atlantic (1st title)
Winning coach	John McCormack (1st title)
MVP	Brendon Sanger, Florida Atlantic
Television	ESPN3/CSS

2013 Sun Belt Conference baseball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 23 Troy  ‍†‍‍^y	20	–	10		.667			42	–	20		.677
South Alabama  ‍†‍‍^y	20	–	10		.667			43	–	20		.683
Louisiana–Lafayette ‍‍‍^y	19	–	11		.633			43	–	20		.683
No. 24 Florida Atlantic  ‍‍‡‍^y	19	–	11		.633			42	–	22		.656
Western Kentucky  ‍‍‍	16	–	14		.533			28	–	29		.491
Arkansas–Little Rock  ‍‍‍	13	–	17		.433			28	–	28		.500
FIU  ‍‍‍	13	–	17		.433			26	–	32		.448
Arkansas State  ‍‍‍	12	–	18		.400			28	–	31		.475
Middle Tennessee  ‍‍‍	11	–	19		.367			28	–	28		.500
Louisiana–Monroe  ‍‍‍	7	–	23		.233			18	–	36		.333
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament As of June 4, 2013[1]; Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

Seeding

The top eight teams (based on conference results) from the conference earned invites to the tournament. The teams were seeded based on conference winning percentage before playing a two bracket, double-elimination tournament. The winner of each bracket then played a championship final. Troy claimed the top seed over South Alabama and Louisiana–Lafayette earned the third seed over Western Kentucky by tiebreaker.[7]

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Seed
Troy	20	10	.667	–	1
South Alabama	20	10	.667	–	2
Louisiana–Lafayette	19	11	.633	1	3
Florida Atlantic	19	11	.633	1	4
Western Kentucky	16	14	.533	4	5
FIU	14	17	.452	6.5	6
Arkansas–Little Rock	13	18	.419	7.5	7
Arkansas State	12	18	.400	8	8
Middle Tennessee	11	19	.366	9	–
Louisiana–Monroe	7	23	.233	13	–

Results

	First round					Second round					Semifinals						Finals
	1	Troy	3
	8	Arkansas State	2
						1	Troy	1
						4	Florida Atlantic	3
	4	Florida Atlantic	5
	5	Western Kentucky	4
											4	Florida Atlantic	5	—
										8	Arkansas State	4	—
	8	Arkansas State	10
	5	Western Kentucky	4
						1	Troy	2
						8	Arkansas State	3
																4	Florida Atlantic	16
																3	Louisiana Lafayette	8
	3	Louisiana–Lafayette	9
	6	FIU	6
						3	Louisiana-Lafayette	9
						2	South Alabama	2
	2	South Alabama	10
	7	Arkansas–Little Rock	2
											3	Louisiana Lafayette	12	—
										2	South Alabama	2	—
	6	FIU	4
	7	Arkansas-Little Rock	3
						2	South Alabama	7
						6	FIU	6

All-Tournament Team

The following players were named to the All-Tournament Team.[6]

Name	School
Logan Pierce	Troy
Edwin Rios	FIU
John Koch	Arkansas State
Alex Potts	Arkansas State
Anthony Izzio	South Alabama
Nick Zaharion	South Alabama
Dex Kjerstad	Louisiana–Lafayette
Austin Robichaux	Louisiana–Lafayette
Jace Conrad	Louisiana–Lafayette
Ryan Wilson	Louisiana–Lafayette
Hugh Adams	Florida Atlantic
Mark Nelson	Florida Atlantic
Geoff Jimenez	Florida Atlantic

Most Outstanding Player

Brendon Sanger was named Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Sanger played for Florida Atlantic.[6]

References

1. "2013 Standings and Leaders". Sun Belt Conference. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
2. "Conference Championship Central". ncaa.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
3. "Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship". Sun Belt Conference. Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
4. "Top-seeded Troy eliminated from Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament". al.com. May 24, 2013. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
5. Matt Harris (May 26, 2013). "Florida Atlantic Claims First-Ever Sun Belt Baseball Tournament Title". wtvy.com. Retrieved August 4, 2013.
6. "Florida Atlantic Claims First-Ever Sun Belt Baseball Tournament Title". Sun Belt Conference. May 26, 2013. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
7. "Troy top seed, South Alabama No. 2 in Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament". al.com. May 18, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.