WKU Earns No. 4 Seed at SBC Tournament, Faces Florida Atlantic on Wednesday

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The Western Kentucky University baseball team earned the No. 4 seed in this week’s Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament in Monroe, La., the league announced Saturday night.

The Hilltoppers advanced to the conference tournament for the 13th consecutive year. They last won the tournament in 2008.

WKU will compete in Pool A of the eight-team bracket, which also will include No. 1 seed Troy, No. 5 seed Florida Atlantic and No. 8 seed Arkansas-Little Rock.

All teams are assured of playing at least three games in the new pool-play format. The Hilltoppers will open the tournament at 11 a.m. Wednesday against FAU. They will take on No. 8 seed UALR at 3 p.m. Thursday and No. 1 Troy at 7 p.m. Friday.

Pool B consists of No. 2 seed FIU, No. 3 seed Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 6 seed South Alabama and No. 7 seed Arkansas State.

The conference moved to the new round-robin format this season, with the team with the best record in each pool advancing to the tournament's championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday. The championship game will be televised live by CSS/CST as part of the Sun Belt Network.

Two-way ties in a pool will be broken by head-to-head results. In the case of a three-way tie, the highest seed will advance.

Fans can catch all of the 2011 SBC Baseball Championship live courtesy of SBC Extra. For just $9.95, you can enjoy each game leading up to the championship finale on Sunday. Go to SunBeltSports.org for more information.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Wednesday, May 25

Game 1 (5) Florida Atlantic vs. (4) WKU 11 a.m.

Game 2 (7) Arkansas State vs. (2) FIU 3 p.m.

Game 3 (8) UALR vs. (1) Troy 7 p.m.

Louisiana-Lafayette and South Alabama are off

Thursday, May 26

Game 4 (6) South Alabama vs. (3) Louisiana-Lafayette 11 a.m.

Game 5 (4) WKU vs. (8) UALR 3 p.m.

Game 6 (1) Troy vs. (5) Florida Atlantic 7 p.m.

FIU and Arkansas State are off

Friday, May 27