2018 Southland Conference baseball tournament

2018 Southland Conference
baseball tournament

Teams	8
Format	Double-elimination
Finals site	Constellation Field Sugar Land, Texas
Champions	Northwestern State (1st title)
Winning coach	Bobby Barbier (1st title)
MVP	David Fry (Northwestern State)
Television	ESPN+

2018 Southland Conference baseball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Sam Houston St  ‍†‍‍	24	–	6		.800			39	–	20		.661
Southeastern Louisiana  ‍‍‍	21	–	9		.700			37	–	22		.627
Northwestern State  ‍‍‡‍y	18	–	12		.600			37	–	22		.627
Houston Baptist  ‍‍‍	18	–	12		.600			29	–	30		.492
Central Arkansas  ‍‍‍	17	–	13		.567			32	–	25		.561
McNeese State  ‍‍‍	15	–	15		.500			25	–	33		.431
Texas A&M–Corpus Christi  ‍‍‍	14	–	16		.467			30	–	26		.536
New Orleans  ‍‍‍	14	–	16		.467			29	–	32		.475
Nicholls State  ‍‍‍	14	–	16		.467			28	–	32		.467
Incarnate Word  ‍‍‍	13	–	17		.433			29	–	26		.527
Lamar  ‍‍‍	13	–	17		.433			19	–	36		.345
Stephen F. Austin  ‍‍‍	9	–	21		.300			17	–	36		.321
Abilene Christian  ‍‍‍	5	–	25		.167			21	–	33		.389
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

The 2018 Southland Conference baseball tournament was held from May 23 through 26. The top eight regular season finishers of the league's thirteen teams met in the double-elimination tournament, which was held at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas. As the winner of the tournament, Northwestern State earned the conference's automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. It was Northwestern State's first Tournament championship.

Seeding and format

The top eight finishers from the regular season were seeded one through eight. They played a two bracket, double-elimination tournament, with the winner of each bracket meeting in a single championship final.

Team	W	L	Pct	GB	Seed
Sam Houston State	24	6	.800	—	1
Southeastern Louisiana	21	9	.700	3	2
Northwestern State	18	12	.600	6	3
Houston Baptist	18	12	.600	6	4
Central Arkansas	17	13	.567	7	5
McNeese State	15	15	.500	9	6
Nicholls State	14	16	.467	10	7
New Orleans	14	16	.467	10	8
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	14	16	.467	10	–
Incarnate Word	13	17	.433	11	—
Lamar	13	17	.433	11	–
Stephen F. Austin	9	21	.300	15	—
Abilene Christian	5	25	.167	19	—

Results

	First round					Second round					Semifinals						Finals
	1	Sam Houston State	3
	8	New Orleans	410
						8	New Orleans	3
						4	Houston Baptist	1
	4	Houston Baptist	147
	5	Central Arkansas	4
											8	New Orleans	3	6
											4	Houston Baptist	4	1
	1	Sam Houston State	4
	5	Central Arkansas	2
						1	Sam Houston State	4
						4	Houston Baptist	6
																	8	New Orleans	5
																	3	Northwestern State	7
	3	Northwestern State	2
	6	McNeese State	1
						3	Northwestern State	5
						2	Southeastern Louisiana	1
	2	Southeastern Louisiana	4
	7	Nicholls State	2
											3	Northwestern State	3	–
											7	Nicholls State	2	–
	6	McNeese State	4
	7	Nicholls State	10
						7	Nicholls State	7
						2	Southeastern Louisiana	6

Schedule

Game	Time*	Matchup#	Television	Attendance
Wednesday, May 23
1	9:00 a.m.	No. 3 Northwestern State vs. No. 6 McNeese State	ESPN+	N/A
2	12:00 p.m.	No. 2 SE Louisiana vs. No. 7 Nicholls State
3	4:00 p.m.	No. 1 Sam Houston St vs. No. 8 New Orleans
4	7:00 p.m.	No. 4 Houston Baptist vs. No. 5 Central Arkansas
Thursday, May 24
5	9:00 a.m.	No. 6 McNeese State vs. No. 7 Nicholls State	ESPN+	N/A
6	12:00 p.m.	No. 1 Sam Houston St vs. No. 5 Central Arkansas
7	4:00 p.m.	No. 3 Northwestern State vs. No. 2 SE Louisiana
8	7:00 p.m.	No. 8 New Orleans vs. No. 4 Houston Baptist
Friday, May 25
9	9:00 a.m.	No. 2 SE Louisiana vs. No. 7 Nicholls State	ESPN+	N/A
10	12:00 p.m.	No. 4 Houston Baptist vs. No. 1 Sam Houston St
11	4:00 p.m.	No. 3 Northwestern State vs. No. 7 Nicholls State
12	7:00 p.m.	No. 8 New Orleans vs. No. 4 Houston Baptist
Saturday, May 26
13	1:00 p.m.	No. 8 New Orleans vs. No. 4 Houston Baptist	ESPN+	N/A
Championship	6:00 p.m.	No. 8 New Orleans vs. No. 3 Northwestern State
*Game times in CDT. # – Rankings denote tournament seed.

All-Tournament Team

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

Name	School
Pitchers
Kyle Arjona	New Orleans
Corey Gaconi	Southeastern Louisiana
Cayden Hatcher	Nicholls State
Position players
David Fry	Northwestern State
Orynn Veillon	New Orleans
Grant Buck	Houston Baptist
Brady Bell	Nicholls State
Beau Bratton	New Orleans
Ethan Valdez	Nicholls State
Luke Watson	Northwestern State
Riley McKnight	Sam Houston State
Jake Pulcheon	Houston Baptist

Most Valuable Player

David Fry was named Tournament Most Valuable Player. Fry was a first baseman for Northwestern State.