Tournament Field set for RRAC Baseball Tournament
April 23, 2012
SHREVEPORT, La. - The tournament field for this year's Red River Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament is finally set after the final regular season games were complete earlier today which decided the final team that qualified for the bracket. Six teams will meet in Shreveport at LSUS' Pilot Field for the 2012 RRAC Tournament in a double-elimination bracket format.
The first pitch of this year's tournament will be Saturday, April 28, at 11:30 a.m. between #2 Texas College and #5 Bacone College. The second game of the day will match third-seeded Texas Wesleyan and fourth-seeded University of Texas at Brownsville at 3 p.m. The final game of the day will feature the host team #1 LSU Shreveport against the six seed University of the Southwest at 6:30 p.m.
#1 LSU Shreveport Pilots (42-4, 22-4 RRAC)
If there is a tournament favorite this year the Pilots would definitely be it since they did not lose a single series in conference play this year and all four of their losses were decided by only one run. Rocke Musgraves is in his 13th season as the Pilot's skipper as he claimed his second straight RRAC regular season title last weekend with a three-game series sweep of the Texas Wesleyan Rams. Not only are the Pilots ranked no. 1 in the NAIA but they are also the nation's best in runs scored per game with 9 and first in runs batted in per game with 8.1. The Pilots are also top notched on the pitcher's mound holding the nation's 4th best earned run average at 2.66 while striking out 362 hitters which is 8th best in the country.
#2 Texas College Steers (26-22-1, 15-9-1 RRAC)
The Steers have won seven games in a row coming into the post season tournament. Texas College look to provide some spark on the bases having the 4th most stolen base attempts in the country while being 5th on the list with 2.8 stolen bases per game. Freddy Rodriguez is at the helm of the Steers for his 6th season as he led the team to a double header sweep on Monday to punch their ticket to this year's tournament. The Steers had a lot riding on the final two games as it decided their fate. By winning the final two games in catapulted the Steers to occupy the no. 2 seed in this year's tournament but if they had lost the final two games they would have been left out of the bracket.
#3 Texas Wesleyan Rams (33-18, 16-10 RRAC)
Mike Jeffcoat will lead the Rams back to the RRAC Tournament in his 11th season as the teams head coach. The Rams enter the weekend having lost four of their last five games including a three-game series lost to LSUS that decided the final standings. Texas Wesleyan has won the RRAC Tournament twice claiming the hardware in 2007 and 2010.
#4 University of Texas at Brownsville Scorpions (28-24, 16-11 RRAC)
In just his fourth season as the head coach, Briand Aughney returns his team to post season play as his team earned the fourth seed in this year's tournament in the schools last year with a baseball program as the school will suspend the program after the completion of this season. The Scorpions have lost six games in a row coming into the tournament; all six games have been decided by only one run.
#5 Bacone College Warriors (25-20, 14-10 RRAC)
J.T. Severe leads the Warriors to the post season tournament in just his second year as the head coach. The Warriors were surprised by Huston-Tillotson 5-4 in the first game of last weekend's series but rallied winning the final two games 13-2 and 14-1 clinching their spot in the bracket.
#6 University of the Southwest Mustangs (21-26, 15-12 RRAC)
Mike Galvan, in his 8th season as head coach, leads the Mustangs to the RRAC Tournament for the first time since 2006. The Mustangs enter the weekend end as one of the hottest teams in the tournament field after ending the season winning nine of their last 10 games including six games in a row. The post season hopes of the Mustangs appeared to fade drastically following a three-game sweep of Texas College at the end of March. But the team responded to take two of three from Northwood and SAGU. The late season rally and tournament berth would not have happened for USW if not for the team sweeping three-game series from Huston-Tillotson and UT-Brownsville in the final weekend of the regular season with five of their last six wins coming on the road in RRAC play.
