Birmingham, Ala. – Jackson State and Texas Southern each won their respective division titles and earned #1 seeds in the upcoming SWAC Baseball Tournament, to be held May 26-30 in Shreveport, La. Jackson State, once 2-3 in SWAC play, won its final 11 conference games to pull away from the pack in the SWAC East race. Meanwhile, Texas Southern took four out of six games against Southern to edge the Jaguars in a head-to-head Western Division race that came down to the final weekend.
Mississippi Valley State secured the #2 seed in the East with a 10-0 win over Alabama State on Wednesday. The Delta Devils won the final two games of a three-game set against Alcorn State on Sunday and moved past the Braves by a half game. Alcorn is the #3 seed in the East, while Alabama State earned the final spot in the tournament from the Eastern Division.
Southern finished a half game behind Texas Southern and will carry the #2 seed from the West in defending its SWAC title from 2009. Grambling earned the #3 seed, while Arkansas-Pine Bluff edged out Prairie View for the final tournament entry from the Western Division.
The tournament opens Wednesday, May 26 at Fairgrounds Field at 9:00 a.m. as Southern (#2W) will face Alcorn State (#3E) in the opening round. Mississippi Valley State (#2E) and Grambling (#3W) will battle at noon on opening day to be followed at 3:00 p.m. by Jackson State (#1E) vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (#4W). The final game of the opening day pits Texas Southern (#1W) against Alabama State (#4E) at 6:00 p.m.
The tournament features a double-elimination format in each of the four-team brackets with a single-game championship between the two bracket champions on Sunday, May 30 at 3:00 p.m. The championship game will be televised live on ESPN-U
