The Arkansas State Red Wolves baseball team may have a better seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament than last year, but with a new single-elimination section, they have a more difficult road.
In November, the 12-team Sun Belt Conference expanded the number of teams that qualify for the postseason tournament from eight to 10. The new format introduces single-elimination games between the No. 7 through No. 10 seeds.
The Red Wolves (26-26) entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed last year, but they reached the semifinals in the double-elimination bracket even after losing their first game to Louisiana-Lafayette. This time, even as the No. 7 seed, their season is over if they lose their first game to No. 10 seed Georgia State.
ASU hasn't won its first game in the tournament since 2012.
"No tomorrow," ASU Coach Tommy Raffo said. "Every pitch. Everybody's in the same boat. You do everything you can in one day."
ASU dropped to the No. 7 seed after losing series to No. 2 seed Texas-Arlington and No. 5 seed Georgia Southern at the start of May. A season-ending two-game sweep of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock kept ASU from dipping further.
The Red Wolves swept Georgia State in April.
"It's do or die," sophomore right-hander Peyton Culbertson said. "But you have to go out there and play every game like it's your last. If it's a three-game set, or a do-or-die game."
Junior infielder Alex Howard enters the tournament after being named the Sun Belt's player of the week. Howard went 3 for 4 with an RBI double in ASU's 5-0 victory last Tuesday over Ole Miss, which is included in several projections for the NCAA Tournament.
Howard went 1 for 13 (.076) with a 2 RBI double in ASU's previous series against Georgia State.
Sophomore right-hander Bradey Welsh (4-2, 6.02 ERA) will face Georgia State freshman right-hander Hunter Gaddis (4-3, 3.27) at 2 p.m. at J.I. Clements Stadium in Statesboro, Ga.
UALR fell to the No. 9 seed after ASU's two-game sweep, but the tournament's expansion permitted the Trojans to qualify for a second consecutive tournament for the first time since the 2000-2001 seasons.
Senior right-hander Cory Malcom (4-5, 3.53) will face Texas State freshman right-hander Nicholas Fraze (5-2, 4.71) at 5:30 p.m.
Malcom last pitched two innings in the Trojans' 18-inning loss to ASU on Thursday, when he struck out 2 and allowed 2 hits and 1 earned run. The Trojans used nine pitchers in the 9-8 loss, which depleted their bullpen and caused their pitching staff to unravel in the 19-2 loss to ASU on Friday. UALR (21-33) used 8 pitchers who combined to walk 9 batters and hit 8 more.
"We're comfortable with where we are in our pitching rest," UALR Coach Chris Curry said. "There's nobody I would want in a big game more than Cory. We actually had everything lined up just like we wanted [during the 18-inning game]. Both bullpens, and Cory did everything we asked them to do. The bullpen is the key in tournament play, and one of the few positives we had was a lot of guys got to pitch that didn't have a lot of innings."
This will be UALR's third tournament appearance since they last won a tournament game in 2011, and they won the series 2-1 when Texas State played in Little Rock in early April.
"You've got to go to the tournament before you can win the tournament," Curry said.
UALR's last Sun Belt championship was in 2011 when it entered as the No. 8 seed.
"Now this year, bringing the team back is so vital, there's no jitters now," Curry said. "Some teams are still trying to feel their way through it, and they miss the moment."
Sports on 05/23/2017