SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Regular-season champion Mercer has claimed the top seed in the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases, which will take place May 23-28 at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina.

All nine Southern Conference teams will participate in the tournament, with seeds 8 and 9 participating in a single-elimination game on Tuesday, May 23, for the right to advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket. The championship game will take place Sunday, May 28, at 12 p.m., with a second game, if necessary, to begin 40 minutes after the completion of the first contest.

The tournament winner earns the league's automatic bid to an NCAA Baseball Regional.

The SoCon tournament will begin Tuesday at 10 a.m. with eighth-seeded The Citadel (16-34, 7-17 SoCon) taking on No. 9 seed VMI (22-32, 7-17) for the right to advance to face the No. 1-seeded Bears on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. The Citadel and VMI finished tied for eighth in the league standings but the Bulldogs claimed the tiebreaker by virtue of their series win to open SoCon play on March 24-26.

Mercer (38-15, 17-6) locked up its third straight regular-season title last weekend before dropping its series against Western Carolina to end the regular season. The Bears, who spent time in the national rankings this year, enter next week seeking their second SoCon tournament title in three years. Mercer, also seeking just its second 40-win season in school history, swept both The Citadel and VMI during the regular season.

Defending tournament champion Western Carolina (28-26, 15-8) claimed the second seed and will face No. 7 seed ETSU (27-27, 9-15) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The Catamounts, who swept the Bucs in a three-game set in early April, will be seeking their record 11th SoCon tournament title. ETSU swept VMI to end the regular season and avoid the play-in game.

No. 3 seed UNCG (31-21, 14-10) finished tied with Furman for fourth in the league standings and won the tiebreaker via its sweep of the Paladins on April 7-9. The Spartans will face No. 6 seed Samford (31-24, 11-13) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Spartans and Bulldogs will be squaring off for the fourth straight contest, as the teams finished the regular season against one another, with Samford taking the first two games before UNCG avoided the sweep Saturday.

No. 4 seed Furman (29-26, 14-10), under the direction of first-year head coach Brett Harker, will take on No. 5 seed Wofford (28-28, 13-11) at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The Paladins, who went 13-2 in their final 15 league games after opening 1-8, have clinched their first winning season since 2013. The Terriers, who took two of three from The Citadel to finish the regular season and clinch their second winning SoCon record ever, won the series over Furman to open the league slate for both teams on March 24-25.

Sunday's championship game(s) will be broadcast live on ESPN3, while every other contest will stream live for free on the SoCon Digital Network.

May 23 (Tuesday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 1: #8 The Citadel vs. #9 VMI 10 a.m.

May 24 (Wednesday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 2: #4 Furman vs. #5 Wofford 9 a.m.
Game 3: #1 Mercer vs. Winner Game 1 12:30 p.m.
Game 4: #2 Western Carolina vs. #7 ETSU 4 p.m.
Game 5: #3 UNCG vs. #6 Samford 7:30 p.m.

May 25 (Thursday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 6: Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3 9 a.m.
Game 7: Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 5 12:30 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3 4 p.m.
Game 9: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 7:30 p.m.

May 26 (Friday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 3:30 p.m.
Game 11: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 9 7 p.m.

May 27 (Saturday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (SDN)
Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9 12 p.m.
Game 13: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11 3:30 p.m.
Game 14: Winner Game 13 vs. Loser Game 12 7 p.m.

May 28 (Sunday)
SoCon Championship presented by Holston Gases (ESPN3)
(Fluor Field; Greenville, S.C.)
Game 15: Winner Game 12 vs. Winner Game 14 12 p.m.
^Game 16: Winner Game 15 vs. Loser Game 15 40 minutes after Game 15

^ if necessary

-www.SoConSports.com-