| Mid-American Conference baseball tournament | |
| Optional Subheader: | Conference baseball championship |
| Sport: | Baseball |
| Conference: | Mid-American Conference |
| Number Of Teams: | 6 |
| Format: | Double-elimination |
| Years: | 1981–1983 1992–2019 2022–present |
| Most Recent: | 2024 |
| Current Champion: | Western Michigan (2nd) |
| Most Championships: | Kent State (12) |
| All Stadiums: | Campus sites (1981, 1983, 1992–2007, 2022–2023) Franklin County Stadium (1982) V.A. Memorial Stadium (2008–2011) Crushers Stadium (2012–2019, 2024–present) |
The Mid-American Conference baseball tournament is the conference baseball championship of the Mid-American Conference, Division I members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2024, the top six finishers participate in the double-elimination tournament, which is played at the home field of the top seed. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. The tournament began in 1981, but was not held from 1984 through 1991. It returned in 1992 and was held annually through 2019. It was scheduled to be played in May 2020, but was cancelled in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. As part of several changes announced in May 2020 related to the pandemic, the tournament was eliminated along with the post-season tournaments of seven other sports, for at least four seasons.[1] The tournament, however, returned in May 2022 after the conference announced in May 2021 that the baseball tournament, along with all other conference tournaments that had been eliminated, would be restored for the 2021–22 athletic season.[2] Kent State has won the most tournament titles with 12, followed by Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan with four each.
The MAC baseball tournament is held in mid to late May at the conclusion of the regular season. As of 2024, the tournament is held at a neutral site and the top six teams in conference play qualify, with the top two seeds receiving byes to the second round. Although the number of qualifying teams has been as low as four and as high as eight, the tournament has always used a double-elimination bracket.
The first tournament, in 1981, featured only the top four conference finishers in a double-elimination format. The following two seasons, 1982 and 1983, the conference was divided into East and West divisions and the top two seeds from each division qualified. When the tournament returned in 1992, the original format featuring the top four teams was again used and remained in place through 1997. The 1992 tournament was also when the All-Tournament Team and Most Valuable Player award were instituted.
Beginning in 1998, the conference was again divided into East and West divisions for the regular season and the tournament format was expanded to a six-team field in a double-elimination bracket, with the top three finishers from each division qualifying. In 2001, the format changed from the top three in each division to the top six overall, regardless of division. The number of qualifying teams was expanded to eight in 2008 and remained there through the 2017 tournament, but was reduced back to six teams for the 2018 and 2019 tournaments following the decisions to shutter the baseball programs at Akron in 2015 and Buffalo in 2017. The separate divisions were also eliminated after the 2017 season.
When the tournament was reinstated in 2022, the original format of only the top four teams qualifying was instituted again and remained in place for 2023. The conference expanded the tournament back to six teams in 2024 as part of its return to a neutral location.[3]
Initially, the tournament was hosted by the top seed, with Central Michigan hosting the inaugural tournament in 1981 at Theunissen Stadium in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The following season, the MAC held the tournament at a neutral location, playing the 1982 tournament at Franklin County Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The tournament returned to a campus site in 1983, being hosted by Western Michigan at Hyames Field in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
When the tournament was revived in 1992, it continued to be held at campus sites, usually the home field of the top seed. Kent State hosted the first three tournaments after it was revived at Gene Michael Field in Kent, Ohio. The top seed continued to host through the 2007 tournament.
The conference began using a neutral site in 2008. V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio, hosted the tournament from 2008 through 2011, followed by Crushers Stadium (initially known as All Pro Freight Stadium) in Avon, Ohio, where it remained from 2012 through 2019 and was scheduled to be held in 2020. Following the tournament's reinstatement in 2022, it was again held at campus sites in 2022 and 2023, but the conference announced in August 2023 that the tournament would return to Mercy Health Park in 2024 through at least 2026.[3]
The following is a list of tournament champions and sites listed by year.[4] [5] [6] [7]
| Year | Site | Champion | Most Valuable Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | |||
| — | |||
| Hyames Field • Kalamazoo, Michigan | — | ||
| No tournament held, 1984–1991 | |||
| Dustin Hermanson (Kent State) | |||
| Ryan Beeney (Kent State) | |||
| Tim Fails (Kent State) | |||
| Pat Mahoney (Central Michigan) | |||
| Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio | Dave Yoder (Akron) | ||
| Bart Leahy (Ohio) | |||
| Steller Field • Bowling Green, Ohio | Bob Niemet (Bowling Green) | ||
| Ball Baseball Field • Muncie, Indiana | Sean Ryan (Bowling Green) | ||
| Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio | John Lackaff (Miami) | ||
| John Van Benschoten (Kent State) | |||
| Steller Field • Bowling Green, Ohio | Brad Snyder (Ball State) | ||
| Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio | Brian Bixler (Eastern Michigan) | ||
| Theunissen Stadium • Mt. Pleasant, Michigan | Ryan Ford (Eastern Michigan)/Andy Sonnanstine (Kent State) | ||
| Paul Frietch (Miami) | |||
| Kyle Dygert (Ball State) | |||
| Jason Patton (Kent State) | |||
| Jack Leonard (Eastern Michigan) | |||
| Chris Tremblay (Kent State) | |||
| Justin Gill (Kent State) | |||
| David Starn (Kent State) | |||
| David Starn (Kent State) | |||
| Nick Bruns (Bowling Green) | |||
| Cody Koch (Kent State) | |||
| Logan Cozart (Ohio) | |||
| Keegan Akin (Western Michigan) | |||
| Sprenger Stadium • Avon, Ohio | Spencer Ibarra (Ohio) | ||
| Eli Kraus (Kent State) | |||
| Griffin Lockwood-Powell (Central Michigan)[8] | |||
| 2020 | Crushers Stadium • Avon, Ohio | Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic | |
| No tournament held in 2021 | |||
| Garrett Navarra (Central Michigan) | |||
| Adam Tellier (Ball State) | |||
| Crushers Stadium • Avon, Ohio | Dylan Nevar (Western Michigan) | ||
The following is a list of tournament champions listed by school and the years each team was eligible to play in the tournament.
| Program | Tenure | Titles | Title years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–1983 1992–2020 2022–present | 12 | 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018 | ||
| 1981–2020 1992–2020 2022–present | 4 | 1994, 1995, 2019, 2022 | ||
| 1981–1983 1992–2020 2022–present | 4 | 1981, 1982, 2003, 2008 | ||
| 1981–1983 1992–2020 2022–present | 3 | 1998, 1999, 2013 | ||
| 1981–1983 1992–2020 2022–present | 3 | 1983, 2000, 2005 | ||
| 1981–1983 1992–2020 2022–present | 3 | 1997, 2015, 2017 | ||
| 1981–1983 1992–2020 2022–present | 2 | 2006, 2023 | ||
| 1981–1983 1992–2020 2022–present | 2 | 2016, 2024 | ||
| 1993–2015 2020 2022–present | 1 | 1996 | ||
| 1981–1982 1998–2020 2022–present | 0 | |||
| 1981–1983 1992–2020 2022–present | 0 | |||
| 1998–2005 | 0 | |||
| 2001–2017 | 0 |