Link to GSC Tournament Page

JACKSON, Tenn. - The Union University baseball team has qualified for the 2017 Gulf South Conference Baseball Championship Tournament this week in Cleveland, Miss. The eight-team tournament will be hosted by regular season champion Delta State University May 6-9. The first three days will be pool play with two pools of four teams. The two pool winners will play Tuesday, May 9 in a winner take all championship game at 6 p.m. 

Union opens play Saturday, May 6 at 10 a.m. versus #4 seed Valdosta State. Union took 2-of-3 from Valdosta State in Valdosta, Ga. back on March 18-19. Union will then face top-seeded Delta State Sunday at 5 p.m. Union lost 2-of-3 at DSU early in the season, including a 10-8 extra inning loss. Union will play their third pool game Monday at 10 a.m. versus #8 Alabama Huntsville. Union won 2-of-3 from UAH in the next to last series of the year in Huntsville, Ala. Union has a 5-4 record this season versus the teams in their pool. 

Union is 32-17 on the season and finished the GSC regular season with a 19-13 record. Union won seven of 11 GSC series this year and finished fifth in the standings. This marked the first time to qualify for the GSC Baseball Tournament in the three years of being postseason eligible. Union moved from NAIA to NCAA DII after the 2012 season and were not able to play postseason in 2013 and 2014 during the transition process. This was Union's 34 winning season in the past 37 years with the only losing seasons during that 37-year stretch coming in 2013, 2014 and 2015 during the transition. 

This year's team has returned to the winning tradition that Union baseball has enjoyed in their program history. Union won 30 games for the first time in 2012. The last four years of NAIA play, from 2009-2012, Union won three TranSouth Tournament Championships and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament all four years. Union finished third in the 1983 NAIA World Series, won the 1963 NCAA Small College National Title, and finished runner-up in the NCAA Small College Tournament in 1961 and 1964. Union has won 12 conference titles in program history. 

Union hopes to continue their winning traditions in one of the toughest baseball leagues in all of NCAA DII. Since 1986, the GSC has had six national champions, the latest was West Florida in 2011. The GSC has also had four national runner-up. 

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