Texas State University, is a member of the Sun Belt Conference which includes such teams as Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Louisiana, Old Dominion, South Alabama and Southern Miss. As of time of press, Texas State was participating in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Above, right hand pitcher Tony Robie sends pitch flying and left, Cade Manning connects with th ball.
Photos by Sun Belt Conference
Sun Belt continues its rise to be premier baseball conference
The Sun Belt Conference— a multi-bid baseball league in 27-of-33 seasons since 1989—has historically been one of the nation’s premier college baseball conferences.
With the additions of James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss entering the 2023 campaign, the conference—already coming off a four-bid postseason in 2022—was poised to rise, with D1Baseball dubbing the league a “power conference” ahead of Opening Day.
The on-field product lived up to the expectations in Year 1 with all 10 teams that qualified for this week’s Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship presented by Troy University finishing the regular-season ranked among the Top 100 in the RPI.
Just three other conferences— the ACC (14), SEC (14) and Pac-12 (10)—can claim that their entire tournament field is listed among the Top 100 in the RPI.
The Sun Belt joins the ACC, SEC and Pac-12 as 1-of-4 conferences to boast a Top 15 RPI team (No. 13 Coastal Carolina), multiple Top 30 RPI teams (No. 28 Southern Miss) and three-or-more Top 35 RPI teams (No. 35 Troy).
Sun Belt regular-season champion and No. 1-seeded Coastal Carolina has won nine of its past 10 games entering the Sun Belt Baseball Championship— including seven straight to close out the regular season. The Chanticleers own wins over Wake Forest (No. 1 RPI), Campbell twice (No. 22 RPI), Southern Miss (No. 28 RPI) and North Carolina twice (No. 29 RPI).
Texas State, which reached an NCAA Baseball Regional final a year ago and is the No. 5 seed in Montgomery, claims wins over Coastal Carolina (No. 13 RPI), Texas (No. 23 RPI), Southern Miss twice (No. 28 RPI), Troy (No. 35 RPI) and TCU (No. 38 RPI). Southern Miss, an NCAA Baseball Super Regional host a year ago and the No. 2 seed in this year's Sun Belt Baseball Championship, won 15 of its last 16 regular- season games. The Golden Eagles claim three wins over Dallas Baptist (No. 17 RPI), two wins over Troy (No. 35 RPI) and one win over Coastal Carolina (No. 13 RPI).
Troy—the No. 3 seed in this week’s Sun Belt Baseball Championship—has won eight of its past 11 games and owns wins over Auburn (No. 15 RPI) and Southern Miss (No. 28 RPI).
Louisiana—the reigning Sun Belt tournament champion and the No. 4 seed this year, has won seven of its last 10 games and owns wins over LSU (No. 4 RPI), Coastal Carolina (No. 13 RPI), Campbell (No. 22 RPI), Southern Miss (No. 28 RPI) and Troy (No. 35 RPI).
Each of the Top 5 seeds in the Sun Belt Baseball Championship remain in the conversation for an at-large berth to NCAA Baseball Regionals, with each boasting 35-or-more wins on the year—Coastal Carolina (37-17), Southern Miss (37-16), Troy (38-17), Louisiana (36-20) and Texas State (35-21). Three of the four new members—James Madison, Old Dominion and Southern Miss— qualified for the Sun Belt Baseball Championship in their first year in the conference. Seven Sun Belt teams—Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Louisiana, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Southern Miss and Texas State, comprising half of the conference, have appeared in an NCAA Baseball Regional over the past two seasons.
Five current Sun Belt programs have reached the College World Series— Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Louisiana and Southern Miss. The Chanticleers are 1-of-31 teams in the nation to win a College World Series, doing so on June 30, 2016—the day before officially joining the Sun Belt on July 1, 2016.
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