May 19, 2003

Charleston, SC - A wild finish to the regular season had Southern Conference officials checking the rule book Sunday, and could presage an even wilder SoCon baseball tournament this week at Riley Park.

Consider these doings over the final regular-season weekend:

-- Regular-season champ Western Carolina lost two of three to College of Charleston, each game by a score of 3-2;

-- Davidson, which squeaked into the tournament in the eighth and final spot, won two of three from No. 4 UNC Greensboro, giving the Wildcats a 5-1 record against the Spartans and No. 3 The Citadel;

-- Six teams finished the regular season with at least 30 wins, the most in SoCon history;

-- A three-way tie for fourth place among UNC Greensboro, Furman and College of Charleston sent league officials to the rule book for tie-breaking procedures, which determined that UNC Greensboro is the fourth seed, Furman the fifth seed and College of Charleston the sixth seed.

That means that No. 3 The Citadel, which wrapped up a 32-23 regular season with a 5-1 win over VMI on Sunday, will face rival College of Charleston in the opening round at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The Citadel swept three games from the Cougars in the regular season, with the first game marred by a benches-clearing brawl.

"Undoubtedly the conference, in teams one through eight this year, is by far the most balanced that I've seen," said Citadel coach Fred Jordan, whose team has won a regular-season or tournament title in each of the last previous five seasons. "I think it will be a very, very exciting tournament and I don't know that you can consider any game an upset.

"Each club has a quality No. 1 starter, each club catches the ball well, and if you look at the stats, the eight teams in this tournament are very comparable in a lot of areas."

College of Charleston coach John Pawlowski's 30-25 team finished strong with two wins against Western Carolina.

"This year, I think every team is going into this tournament thinking they can win this thing," said Pawlowski, whose team lost in the SoCon championship game to Georgia Southern last season. "It would not surprise me if any team won it, it is so wide open."

In addition to six 30-win teams, the SoCon boasted some quality out-of-conference wins this season. Furman beat Clemson twice and South Carolina once, Georgia Southern topped Georgia and Georgia Tech, The Citadel had wins over ranked teams North Carolina State, South Carolina and Miami and Western Carolina (currently ranked No. 28 in one poll) defeated Clemson and Oklahoma State (twice).

Western Carolina's 37-17 record (22-8 in the SoCon) might be good enough to earn the Catamounts an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament even if they don't win the SoCon Tournament. That could earn the SoCon two NCAA bids for just the fourth time in league history.

"Our conference has gotten so much stronger," the Cougars' Pawlowski said. "The days of somebody running away with it, or of going into the tournament as a dominant team, I believe are over. The coaches work so hard, the players are much better, and it is a tough conference. It shows with that many teams over 30 wins."

Said Jordan, "This league has improved over the past four years tremendously. There are a lot of good baseball players in the Southern Conference."

-- The surprise team of the league has to be VMI, which won only one SoCon game last season. This year, the Keydets are 23-25 overall and 16-14 in the SoCon, setting or matching school records for overall wins and SoCon wins. VMI, the No. 7 seed, faces No. 2 Georgia Southern (35-19, 19-10) in the first round. The Keydets, who join the Big South next year, will try to win a SoCon title in their final year in the league.

-- UNC Greensboro, Furman and College of Charleston each went 17-13 in the SoCon, and all three teams went 3-3 against each other. UNC Greensboro earned the No. 4 seed due to its 3-0 record against champion Western Carolina. Furman then got the fifth seed due to its 2-1 mark against College of Charleston.

SOCON TOURNAMENTFirst-round pairings

Wednesday at Riley Park

10 a.m.--No. 4 UNCG vs. No. 5 Furman

1 p.m.--No. 1 Western Carolina vs. No. 8 Davidson

4 p.m.--No. 2 Georgia Southern vs. No. 7 VMI

7:30 p.m.--No. 3 The Citadel vs. No. 6 College of Charleston

SOCON STANDINGSFinal regular-season standings

Team SoCon Overall

Western Carolina 22-8 37-18

Georgia Southern 19-10 35-19

The Citadel 19-11 32-23

UNC Greensboro 17-13 36-19

Furman 17-13 31-22

College of Charleston 17-13 30-25

VMI 16-14 22-26

Davidson 12-17 18-25

E. Tennessee State 9-20 15-36

Appalachian State 8-22 14-36

Wofford 7-22 9-40