The Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament returns for a 15th straight year to Regions Park in the south-Birmingham city of Hoover, Ala., May 22-27.
The SEC Tournament will begin in 2012 to follow a 10-team double elimination format that is modeled in a similar fashion to previous SEC Tournament and College World Series brackets. The tournament field includes the top teams from the SEC’s Eastern and Western Divisions plus eight at-large bids based on conference winning percentage.
The ten teams are seeded 1-10 with the two divisional champions guaranteed of the top two seeds and first-round byes. Games played from Tuesday to Friday are double elimination with single elimination starting on Saturday. Last season, Florida defeated Vanderbilt 5-0 in front of a national television audience on ESPN2 to claim SEC Tournament title.
Regions Park currently serves as home of the Double-A Birmingham Barons (Chicago White Sox) of the Southern League. The stadium also serves as host of the NCAA Men’s Soccer Final Four, as well as the former home field to the nationally renowned Hoover Buccaneer high school football program.
Located eight miles south of Birmingham, Regions Park seats 10,800 for baseball, but can accommodate over 16,000 when the patio, banquet and side grassy areas are used. The stadium also houses 12 suites and state-of-the-art dressing and training rooms. Wireless internet access was added in 2004, concourse and signage renovation was done in 2005 and a second-level pressbox expansion, new stadium seating and an exterior facelift in 2007 completed a $6 million renovation project. A new HD video scoreboard was added in 2008, while the SEC introduced the nation to a ‘pitch clock’ in 2010.
The 2011 SEC Baseball Tournament, drew nearly 100,000 fans. Six times time in the last nine years the tournament has surpassed the six-digit mark in total attendance. The 2010 event drew nearly 130,000 fans, an all-time record.
The SEC is scheduled to keep its baseball tournament in Hoover at Regions Park through 2016 under the current contract.
All games of the tournament have been televised in high definition since 2008, with ESPN2 set to broadcast the championship game nationally for the third straight year in 2012.
SEC Tournament Seeding: The two division champions shall be automatically seeded number one and number two based on winning percentage in conference competition. The rest shall be seeded numbers three through ten based on winning percentage without regard to division. Ties will be broken in the following manner:
1. Two-Team Tie: When two teams are tied for a finish, the following procedure will be used (in the following order until the tie is broken):
A. Won-lost results of head-to-head competition between the two tied teams.
B. If they are divisional opponents:
1. Won-lost percentage within their division (over the 15-game SEC division schedule).
2. Won-lost percentage of the two teams versus the No. 1 team in their division (and proceeding through the No. 7 team, if necessary).
C. If two teams are not divisional opponents:
1. Won-lost record of the two teams versus the No. 1 seed using common opponents only (and proceeding through the No. 10 seed, if necessary).
2. Coin flip by the Commissioner.
2. Three-Team Tie (or more): When three or more teams are tied for a finish, the following procedure will be used (in descending order until the tie is broken). (Note: If the three tied teams have three different records against each other, they shall be seeded in best-percentage order. Otherwise, once the three-team tie is broken, the two-team tie-breaker will be used):
A. If all three teams are common opponents: Total won-lost percentage of games played among the tied teams.
B. Won-lost percentage of the tied teams versus the No. 1 seed and proceeding through the No. 10 seed, if necessary, using common opponents only.
C. If three or more teams still are tied, the Commissioner will conduct a draw.
2012 Stadium Information
Regions Park — Hoover, Ala.
Capacity: 10,800 (Grandstand Seating)
Field Dimensions
Foul Lines: 340
Power Alleys: 385
Center: 405
Playing Surface: Natural Grass
Year Built: 1988/Renovated 2006-07