The 2012 Western Athletic Conference baseball tournament gets underway today at Hohokam Park in Mesa, Ariz. The regular season saw a three-way tie for first place between New Mexico State, Sacramento State and Nevada at 11-7. The Aggies earned the top seed due to the league’s tiebreaker rules (head-to-head record against the tied teams) while Sacramento State earned the number two seed by virtue of their head-to-head series victory over Nevada. This was important because the league awards first-round byes to the top two teams meaning Nevada, despite winning a share of the regular season title, was relegated to the three seed and must play on the tournament’s opening day.
The four seed went to Hawai’i who finished the regular season at 10-8. Preseason favorite Fresno State struggled out of the gate starting conference play at 2-7 but rallied in the second half of the conference schedule to finish 9-9 and in fifth place. Rounding out the tournament field is Louisiana Tech who also struggled out of the gate starting 1-8 in league play but like their Bulldog brethren from California, posted a strong second half and finished 7-11.
The four lower seeds will play today with 4-seed Hawai’i facing 5-seed Fresno State at 3:00 p.m. (PDT) while 3-seed Nevada takes on 6-seed Louisiana Tech at 7:00 p.m. (PDT).
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