SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Regular-season champion Samford has claimed the top seed in the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases, which will take place May 21-26 at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina.

All nine Southern Conference teams will participate in the tournament, with seeds 8 and 9 participating in a single-elimination game on Tuesday, May 21, for the right to advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket. The championship game will take place Sunday, May 26, at 12 p.m., with a second game, if necessary, to begin 40 minutes after the completion of the first contest.

The tournament winner earns the league’s automatic bid to an NCAA Baseball Regional.

The SoCon tournament will begin Tuesday at 10 a.m. with eighth-seeded Western Carolina (20-30, 8-16) taking on No. 9 The Citadel (12-42, 5-19) for the chance to advance to face the No. 1-seeded Samford on Wednesday at 9 a.m. When The Citadel and Western Carolina met in the regular season series finale in Cullowhee, North Carolina, it was the Bulldogs who claimed two of the three matchups.

Samford (39-17, 19-5) locked up the regular-season title last weekend before finishing out its last regular-season series at ETSU, taking two of the three games in the series. The Bulldogs, who are reigning SoCon tournament champions, claimed the regular-season title for the first time in program history.

Wofford (22-13, 14-9) claimed the second seed and will face No. 7 seed VMI (17-39, 9-15) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Terriers earned a series win over the Keydets in Spartanburg, South Carolina, earlier this season.

No. 3 seed UNCG (33-17, 14-10) finished the 2019 regular season winning seven of its last 10 games. The Spartans will face ETSU (27-23, 11-13), the No. 6 seed, on Wednesday at 4 p.m. UNCG swept the series over ETSU in Johnson City, Tennessee, earlier this season.

No. 4 seed Mercer (29-26, 14-10) will take on No. 5 seed Furman (25-29, 13-11) at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Paladins took two out of three games from the Bears to end the regular season.

All tournament games will be broadcast live on the SoCon Digital Network until the championship, which will air on ESPN+.

May 21 (Tuesday)

SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)

(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)

Game 1: #8 Western Carolina vs. #9 The Citadel 10 a.m.

May 22 (Wednesday)

SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)

(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)

Game 2: Winner Game 1 vs. #1 Samford 9 a.m.

Game 3: #4 Mercer vs. #5 Furman 12:30 p.m.

Game 4: #3 UNCG vs. #6 ETSU 4 p.m.

Game 5: #2 Wofford vs. #7 VMI 7:30 p.m.

May 23 (Thursday)

SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)

(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)

Game 6: Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3 9 a.m.

Game 7: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5 12:30 p.m.

Game 8: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3 4 p.m.

Game 9: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 7:30 p.m.

May 24 (Friday)

SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)

(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)

Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 3:30 p.m.

Game 11: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 9 7 p.m.

May 25 (Saturday)

SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)

Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)

Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 12 p.m.

Game 13: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11 3:30 p.m.

Game 14: Winner Game 13 vs. Loser Game 12 7 p.m.

May 26 (Sunday)

SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN+)

(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)

Game 15: Winner Game 12 vs. Winner Game 14 12 p.m.

^Game 16: Winner Game 15 vs. Loser Game 15 40 minutes after Game 15

^ if necessary

-www.SoConSports.com-