Southland Conference Tournament Preview
UTRGV’s Armani Raygoza runs to first base at UTRGV Baseball Stadium (Photo courtesy of the UTRGV athletics department).
The second conference tournament of this postseason begins today! The Southland Conference will begin tournament play at 1:00 PM CT/2:00 PM ET, with four games scheduled on day one. The #1 and #2 seeds, Southeastern Louisiana and Lamar respectively, will serve as the two host sites for bracket play and the championship series will be hosted by the highest remaining seed. Below you will find all matchups listed, a collection of recent Southland Conference champions, and a detailed and extensive analysis breaking down the field. We then wrap up by throwing a couple predictions out there just to have fun with it, and hopefully you all enjoy this article. Folks, this is the best part of the season and we are just getting started!
(all times below listed in Central Time)
Hammond Bracket
Thursday, 5/14
[Game 1] 4 Nicholls vs. 5 McNeese, 1 PM
[Game 2]1 SE Louisiana vs. 8 Houston Christian, 6 PM
Friday, 5/15
[Game 3] Elimination Game: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 1 PM
[Game 4] Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 6 PM
Saturday, 5/16
[Game 5] Elimination Game: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 1 PM
[Game 6] Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5, 6 PM
Sunday, 5/17 (if necessary)
[Game 7] Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, 1 PM
Beaumont Bracket
Thursday, 5/14
[Game 1] 3 UT Rio Grande Valley vs. 6 Northwestern State, 1 PM
[Game 2] 2 Lamar vs. 7 Stephen F. Austin, 6 PM
Friday, 5/15
[Game 3] Elimination Game: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 1 PM
[Game 4] Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 6 PM
Saturday, 5/16
[Game 5] Elimination Game: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 1 PM
[Game 6] Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5, 6 PM
Sunday, 5/17 (if necessary)
[Game 7] Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, 1 PM
Championship Series
Thursday, 5/21
[Game 1] Winner of Hammond Bracket vs. Winner of Beaumont Bracket
Friday, 5/22
[Game 2] Winner of Hammond Bracket vs. Winner of Beaumont Bracket
Saturday, 5/23 (if necessary)
[Game 3] Winner of Hammond Bracket vs. Winner of Beaumont Bracket
Recent Results
2025: 6 Houston Christian def. 8 New Orleans (MVP: Parker Edwards, Houston Christian)
2024: 2 Nicholls def. 5 McNeese (MVP: Basiel Williams, Nicholls)
2023: 1 Nicholls def. 4 New Orleans (MVP: Xane Washington, Nicholls)
2022: 2 SE Louisiana def. 1 McNeese (MVP: Preston Faulkner, SE Louisiana)
2021: 7 McNeese def. 5 Sam Houston (MVP: Clayton Rasbeary, McNeese)
Editor’s Notes
This should be a tightly contested tournament throughout. Southeastern Louisiana, or SELA projects as the favorite although there are a number of squads not far behind. SELA has been the consistent best team throughout conference play, holds the best conference run differential (+61), and also has arguably the best ranked win in the entire conference having defeated Southern Mississippi by a margin of 5-1 on March 31st. They have been the highest scoring offense in Southland competition, and only Lamar has had less runs scored against them. Lamar and UT Rio Grande Valley also hold wins over Kansas, and UTRGV has won against Oregon State to conclude the Southland’s most impressive non-conference wins.
Lamar is the best team in terms of run prevention, led by staff aces Travis Lutz and Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year Chris Olivier. Lutz and Olivier’s season ERA’s sit at 2.18 and 2.92 respectively, and the two have combined for an impressive 142-37 K/BB ratio in 119.1 innings. Lamar’s pitching depth serves as one of their strengths as well, as the Cardinals are the only Southland school with a team ERA below 4.00 in conference play.
The Vaqueros of Rio Grande Valley however, are built in the opposite fashion. UTRGV sits middle of the pack in run prevention across the conference, but has been one of the most potent teams offensively as they are the only team who can stack up to SELA in many offensive metrics. The Vaqueros are led by the first-ever repeating Southland Conference Player of the Year Armani Raygoza, who has been putting up monster numbers at the plate all season long. Raygoza has hit 34 home runs and driven in 109 RBI over the past two seasons in just 407 at-bats. This season, Raygoza has attained a 1.080 OPS, .623 SLG, 48 walks, and 17 home runs; all of these numbers lead the conference.
The top three teams have also showcased their ability to play each other well; SELA beat Lamar in a series, UTRGV beat SELA in a series, and Lamar swept UTRGV. Nicholls also has an electric offense, sitting third behind SELA and UTRGV in runs scored and the top 3-4 range in the conference in most of the primary offensive stats. McNeese is another team backed by pitching depth, carrying one of the lowest ERA’s in the conference and having limited the high-powered Vaqueros offense to just three runs in a game earlier this year. The Cowboys’ pitching staff has also been hot lately, having just limited Northwestern State’s lineup to only 4 runs in 30 innings in their last series of the season. Eric Nachtsheim took home Southland Reliver of the Year honors for McNeese; the 6’4 Senior struck out 116 batters on the season while only walking 20.
Northwestern State has also pitched very well throughout the season with a conference ERA just above that of McNeese’s, but the offense has seen its share of struggles. The Demons are in the bottom three of most team offensive stats, and as mentioned have been ice cold as of late. Stephen F. Austin could be sneaky, as they have been giant killers at certain points of the season with a series win against UTRGV and a recent midweek win against the Houston Cougars. However, the Lumberjacks do sit in dead last in terms of runs scored in conference action and have also never made a Regional before.
Houston Christian finds themselves as the last seed to make it in while also being the defending tournament champion. Maybe they have felt the absence of last year’s Southland Tournament MVP and two-way star Parker Edwards, who was a pivotal component of last year’s team which went to the Austin Regional. In conference play, HCU has allowed more runs than they have scored but were at least able to end their season with wins against Lamar and Sam Houston. One thing I will say is this tournament rarely ever goes chalk, as in the last five years there has been only one instance of the 1 and 2 seeds meeting in the final and no instances of the 1 and 3 meeting in the final. In just a few hours, we will get to see all of these teams put their talents on display. In just over a week, we will have narrowed the entire conference down to one team which will gloriously hear their name called on Selection Monday.
Editor’s Predictions
Hammond Bracket Champion: 5 McNeese Cowboys
Beaumont Bracket Champion: 3 UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros
Championship Series: 3 UT Rio Grande Valley def. 5 McNeese
MVP: Armani Raygoza, UTRGV
