BREVARD, N.C. - The Brevard College baseball program is set to host the opening round of the 2024 USA South Conference Baseball Tournament for the first time from Thursday to Saturday at Gil Coan Field.
Three-seed Methodist University and six-seed Pfeiffer University will open action up on Thursday at noon, with BC - who is the second seed in the conference tournament - taking on the loser of the first game 40 minutes after completion.
Friday will pit BC against the winner of the first game of the pod at 12 p.m., the bracket will be adjusted based on the results of game two and potentially game three, so stay tuned to USASouth.net for updates on the game schedule.
The Tornados, who are fresh off securing their third-consecutive 20-win season under fifth-year Head Coach Mike Victory, enter the USA South postseason for the second-straight season.
Two Tornado juniors earned USA South All-Conference honors on Wednesday, with Frankie Vasquez being selected to the First Team, while Cale Oehler earned a nod on the Second Team.
Vasquez, a third-year Tornado from Pembroke Pines, Florida, garnered USA South Player of the Week and D3baseball.com Team of the Week honors en route to his First Team selection at the hot corner. Vasquez and Oehler are virtually tied atop the team in batting average, while the third baseman ranks second in OPS (1.009), home runs (six), and leads all Tornados in RBI (52) – a mark that is top-20 nationally at the NCAA DIII level with his 1.53 RBI-per-game mark being inside the top-15.
Oehler, a junior product of Concord, North Carolina, also earned D3baseball.com Team of the Week plaudits en route to his Second Team nod. He holds a team-best .351 batting average, a team-high 1.055 OPS, has the most hits on the team with 47, and has hit team-highs in doubles (11), triples (two), and is second in RBI with 42. Oehler recently surpassed the BC NCAA-era career home run record, launching his 14th at Mary Baldwin last weekend.
Methodist, who is the third overall seed in the conference tournament, has been led in the offensive department by Banks Hartman and Hunter Hollman, who have 56 hits each. Brandon Mauger leads the Monarchs with 34 RBI, and Banks Engle has 18 extra-base hits. Josh Plisko has struck out a team-high 49 batters in 2024.
As for six-seed Pfeiffer, they have been paced by Wilson Lohrer, who has a team-high 60 hits while Zach Ferrell has slugged 23 extra base hits and 39 RBI. Thad Lewis has recorded 51 strikeouts on the mound.
The winners of the three-team tournaments will advance to the best-of-three championship series to take place the following weekend. That series will be hosted by the highest-remaining seed.
The 2024 Baseball Tournament seeding is as follows:
|
Seed
|
Team
|
Record
|
|
1.
|
N.C. Wesleyan
|
17-4
|
|
2.
|
Brevard
|
13-8
|
|
3.
|
Methodist
|
12-9
|
|
4.
|
Greensboro
|
11-10
|
|
5.
|
Southern Virginia
|
10-11
|
|
6.
|
Pfeiffer
|
10-11
|
|
---
|
William Peace
|
9-12
|
|
---
|
Mary Baldwin
|
2-19
|
2024 USA South Baseball Tournament Schedule (all times ET)
Bracket #1 (All games played at N.C. Wesleyan)
Thursday, May 2
Game 1: #5 Southern Virginia vs. #4 Greensboro - 2:00pm
Game 2: Loser Game 1 vs. #1 N.C. Wesleyan - 5:00pm
Friday, May 3
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. #1 N.C. Wesleyan - 2:00pm
NOTE: The schedule will be updated to reflect the appropriate scenario below based on the outcome of Game 2 and/or Game 3.
Scenario #1
Friday, May 3 (if two teams remain after Game 2)
Game 4: Same teams as Game 3 - 5:00pm
Saturday, May 4
Game 5 (if necessary): Same teams as Game 4 - 2:00pm
Scenario #2
Friday, May 3 (if two teams remain after Game 3 and N.C. Wesleyan has been eliminated)
Game 4: #5 Southern Virginia vs. #4 Greensboro - 5:00pm
Saturday, May 4
Game 5 (if necessary): Same teams as Game 4 - 2:00pm
Scenario #3
Friday, May 3 (if three teams remain after Game 3)
Game 4: #5 Southern Virginia vs. #4 Greensboro - 5:00pm
Saturday, May 4
Game 5: #1 N.C. Wesleyan vs. Winner of Game 4 - 2:00pm
Bracket #2 (All games played at Brevard)Thursday, May 2
Game 1: #6 Pfeiffer vs. #3 Methodist - 12:00pm
Game 2: Loser Game 1 vs. #2 Brevard - 3:00pm
Friday, May 3
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. #2 Brevard - 12:00pm
NOTE: The schedule will be updated to reflect the appropriate scenario below based on the outcome of Game 2 and/or Game 3.
Scenario #1
Friday, May 3 (if two teams remain after Game 2)
Game 4: Same teams as Game 3 - 3:00pm
Saturday, May 4
Game 5 (if necessary): Same teams as Game 4 - 1:00pm
Scenario #2
Friday, May 3 (if two teams remain after Game 3 and Brevard has been eliminated)
Game 4: #6 Pfeiffer vs. #3 Methodist - 3:00pm
Saturday, May 4
Game 5 (if necessary): Same teams as Game 4 - 1:00pm
Scenario #3
Friday, May 3 (if three teams remain after Game 3)
Game 4: #6 Pfeiffer vs. #3 Methodist - 3:00pm
Saturday, May 4
Game 5: #2 Brevard vs. Winner of Game 4 - 1:00pm
Best-of-Three Championship Series (Played at highest-remaining seed after bracket play)
Friday, May 10
Game 1: Bracket #2 Winner vs. Bracket #1 Winner - Time TBA
Saturday, May 13
Game 2: Bracket #2 Winner vs. Bracket #1 Winner - Time TBA
Game 3 (if necessary): Bracket #2 Winner vs. Bracket #1 Winner - Time TBA
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-BC-
