# 2023 Southern Conference baseball season

The 2023 Southern Conference baseball season was the baseball season for the Southern Conference as part of the 2023 NCAA Division I baseball season. Wofford was predicted to win the conference in the preseason poll. The conference tournament was scheduled for May 24–28 at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, South Carolina.

## Regular Season

The Southern Conference began conference play on March 24. Each team was scheduled to play 21 conference games.

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | CW | CL | CPCT | GB | W | L | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | Samford (C, T) | 54 | 15 | 6 | .714 | — | 32 | 22 | .593 | Qualification for the third round & NCAA tournament |
| 2 | Mercer | 55 | 13 | 8 | .619 | 2 | 32 | 23 | .582 | Qualification for the third round |
| 3 | Wofford | 54 | 12 | 9 | .571 | 3 | 37 | 17 | .685 | Qualification for the second round |
| 4 | East Tennessee State | 52 | 10 | 11 | .476 | 5 | 25 | 27 | .481 | Qualification for the second round |
| 5 | VMI | 54 | 9 | 11 | .450 | 5.5 | 26 | 28 | .481 | Qualification for the play-in round |
| 6 | UNC Greensboro | 54 | 9 | 12 | .429 | 6 | 22 | 32 | .407 | Qualification for the play-in round |
| 7 | Western Carolina | 53 | 8 | 12 | .400 | 6.5 | 21 | 32 | .396 | Qualification for the play-in round |
| 8 | The Citadel | 51 | 7 | 14 | .333 | 8 | 22 | 29 | .431 | Qualification for the play-in round |

### Conference Game Results

| Home \ Away | CIT | ETSU | MER | SAM | UNCG | VMI | WCU | WOF |
| The Citadel | | 1–2 | 1–2 | | | 2–1 | | 0–3 |
| East Tennessee State | | | | 1–2 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Mercer | | 3–0 | | 0–3 | 2–1 | | 1–2 | |
| Samford | 3–0 | | | | 2–1 | | 2–1 | |
| UNC Greensboro | 1–2 | | | | | | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| VMI | | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | | | |
| Western Carolina | 2–1 | | | | | 0–2 | | 1–2 |
| Wofford | | | 0–3 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | | |
* ↑ The final game of the WCU-VMI series was cancelled due to inclement weather.

## Tournament

The 2023 Southern Conference baseball tournament was held on May 24 through May 27 at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, South Carolina. The winner of the conference tournament received an automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
All eight SoCon baseball teams participated in the tournament, with the bottom four seeds having played a single-elimination play-in round. The remaining teams then played a six-team double-elimination tournament, with the top two seeds receiving byes into the third round, and the third and fourth placed teams playing the play-in round winners in the second round. The UNC Greensboro Spartans were the defending champions, but were eliminated by the Samford Bulldogs in the loser's bracket final. Wofford came out as the only team to not go through the loser's bracket, but lost two games to Samford, giving the Bulldogs their fourth SoCon baseball tournament title. Samford's Heath Clevenger was named the Tournament Most Outstanding Player.

### Bracket

| Play-in round | Play-in round | Play-in round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Third round | Third round | Third round | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| | | | | | | Game 5 | Game 5 | Game 5 | | | | | | |
| | | | Game 3 | Game 3 | Game 3 | 1 | Samford | 2 | | | | | | |
| Game 1 | Game 1 | Game 1 | 4 | East Tennessee State | 12$^7$ | 4 | East Tennessee State | 1 | | | | | | |
| Game 1 | Game 1 | Game 1 | 4 | East Tennessee State | 12$^7$ | 4 | East Tennessee State | 1 | Game 9 | Game 9 | Game 9 | | | | | |
| 5 | VMI | 2 | 8 | The Citadel | 0 | | | | | | Game 9 | Game 9 | Game 9 | | | |
| 5 | VMI | 2 | 8 | The Citadel | 0 | | | | 1 | Samford | 6 | | | |
| 8 | The Citadel | 5 | | | | | | | 1 | Samford | 6 | | | |
| 8 | The Citadel | 5 | | | | | | | 3 | Wofford | 7 | | | |
| | | | | | | Game 6 | Game 6 | Game 6 | 3 | Wofford | 7 | | | |
| | | | Game 4 | Game 4 | Game 4 | 2 | Mercer | 14 | | | | | | |
| Game 2 | Game 2 | Game 2 | 3 | Wofford | 6 | 3 | Wofford | 16 | | | | | | |
| 6 | UNC Greensboro | 4 | 6 | UNC Greensboro | 1 | | | | | | | | | Games 12 and 13 | Games 12 and 13 | Games 12 and 13 | Games 12 and 13 |
| 7 | Western Carolina | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | 3 | Wofford | 2 | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | Samford | 7 | 5 |
| | | | Lower third round | Lower third round | Lower third round | Lower semifinal | Lower semifinal | Lower semifinal | Lower final | Lower final | Lower final | | | |
| | | | Game 7 | Game 7 | Game 7 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | 6 | UNC Greensboro | 4 | | | | Game 11 | Game 11 | Game 11 | | | | | |
| | | | 4 | East Tennessee State | 2 | Game 10 | Game 10 | Game 10 | 1 | Samford | 9 | | | |
| | | | | | | 6 | UNC Greensboro | 9 | 6 | UNC Greensboro | 5 | | | |
| | | | Game 8 | Game 8 | Game 8 | 2 | Mercer | 5 | | | | | | | | |
| | | | 8 | The Citadel | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | 2 | Mercer | 8 | | | | | | | | | |

### Schedule

| Game | Time$^*$ | Matchup$^#$ | Score |
| Day 1 (Wednesday, May 24) ||||
| 1 | 3:00 p.m. | #5 VMI vs. #8 The Citadel | 2-5 |
| 2 | 7:00 p.m. | #6 UNC Greensboro vs. #7 Western Carolina | 4-3 |
| Day 2 (Thursday, May 25) ||||
| 3 | 9:00 a.m. | #8 The Citadel vs. #4 East Tennessee State | 0-12$^7$ |
| 4 | 12:30 p.m. | #6 UNC Greensboro vs. #3 Wofford | 1-6 |
| 5 | 4:00 p.m. | #4 East Tennessee State vs. #1 Samford | 1-2 |
| 6 | 7:30 p.m. | #3 Wofford vs. #2 Mercer | 16-14 |
| Day 3 (Friday, May 26) ||||
| 7 | 9:00 a.m. | #6 UNC Greensboro vs. #4 East Tennessee State | 4-2 |
| 8 | 12:30 p.m. | #8 The Citadel vs. #2 Mercer | 1-8 |
| 9 | 4:00 p.m. | #1 Samford vs. #3 Wofford | 6-7 |
| 10 | 7:30 p.m. | #6 UNC Greensboro vs. #2 Mercer | 9-5 |
| Day 4 (Saturday, May 27) ||||
| 11 | 8:00 a.m. | #1 Samford vs. #6 UNC Greensboro | 9-5 |
| 12 | 10:30 a.m. | #3 Wofford vs. #1 Samford | 2-7 |
| 13 | 1:00 p.m. | #3 Wofford vs. #1 Samford | 2-5 |
| *Game times are in EDT. # – Rankings denote tournament seed. ||||

## Conference leaders

Hitting leaders :
| Stat | Player | Total |
| AVG | Justin Starke (VMI) | .392 |
| HR | John Anderson (SAM) | 22 |
| RBI | Ryan Galanie (WOF) | 66 |
| R | Treyson Hughes (MER) | 74 |
| H | Ryan Galanie (WOF) | 88 |
| SB | Ty Swaim (VMI) | 35 |
Pitching leaders :
| Stat | Player | Total |
| W | Matthew Marchal (WOF) | 11 |
| L | Jay Miller (UNCG) | 8 |
| ERA | Lucas Mahlstedt (WOF) | 2.69 |
| K | Jacob Cravey (SAM) | 121 |
| IP | Jacob Cravey (SAM) | 98.2 |
| SV | Ben Petschke (SAM) | 14 |
Conference leaders statistics include all regular season and SoCon tournament games.