WEEK 9 CONFERENCE NOTES

NEW ORLEANS – Reigning national runner-up No. 7 Coastal Carolina will host Old Dominion as it looks to clinch its second-straight Sun Belt regular-season title. The table-topping Chanticleers and No. 12 Southern Miss, which hits the road to James Madison, remain listed as repeat NCAA Baseball Regional hosts in the latest projections from Baseball America and D1Baseball.  
 
A trio of Top 100 RPI clashes—Louisiana at App State, Texas State at Arkansas State and South Alabama at Troy—provide resume-building opportunities for fellow Sun Belt NCAA Baseball Regional contenders. 
 
All 21 Sun Belt games this weekend will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN+.
 
WHAT TO WATCH FOR

• POSTSEASON PICTURE – With two weekends remaining on the Sun Belt regular-season slate, every team has something to play for. All 14 teams remain in contention for the 10-team Sun Belt Baseball Championship presented by Troy University, with 13 in range of a top-six seed and a bye into the double-elimination portion of the tournament. Five teams—No. 7 Coastal Carolina, No. 12 Southern Miss, App State, South Alabama and Troy—are in play for the Sun Belt regular-season title. At the top of the table, the league-leading Chanticleers can clinch a second-straight outright regular-season crown with a series sweep of Old Dominion and one loss by Southern Miss. Reigning national runner-up Coastal Carolina can also clinch the outright regular-season title with a series win over Old Dominion, a series loss by the Golden Eagles and one loss by App State. On the national stage, the Chanticleers (22 RPI) and Golden Eagles (10 RPI) are ranked in all five national polls and aiming to host NCAA Baseball Regionals for the second-straight season. Five other Sun Belt teams—Arkansas State (44 RPI), Louisiana (53 RPI), Texas State (57 RPI), Troy (59 RPI) and South Alabama (65 RPI)—look to solidify their NCAA tournament resumes over the next 17 days. The Sun Belt has sent 14 teams to NCAA Baseball Regionals over the past four seasons, including being a four-bid league in three of the past four years.  
• IRON SHARPENS IRON – The Sun Belt boasts seven Top 65 RPI teams—with six of those teams owning at least five Quad 1 wins on the year. No. 7 Coastal Carolina and South Alabama’s seven Quad 1 wins pace the Sun Belt and rank 18th in the nation, followed closely by six from No. 12 Southern Miss, Louisiana and Troy (25th in the nation) and five from Arkansas State (35th in the nation). The Chanticleers (11th, 58.3 percent), Golden Eagles (23rd, 50.0 percent) and Jaguars (23rd, 50.0 percent) rank among the Top 23 teams in the country in Quad 1 winning percentage, winning 50.0 percent-or-more of their Quad 1 games. Arkansas State (46th, 41.7 percent), Louisiana (49th, 40.0 percent) and Troy (49th, 40.0 percent) also rank among the Top 49 teams in the country, winning 40.0 percent-or-more of their Quad 1 opportunities.
• MOUNTAIN TOP – The App State Mountaineers—winners of five-straight Sun Belt series—will host Louisiana for a three-game set on the penultimate weekend of conference play. The Ragin’ Cajuns—1-of-4 30-win ballclubs in the Sun Belt thus far alongside nationally-ranked No. 7 Coastal Carolina, No. 12 Southern Miss and South Alabama—will have history on their side in the road series. Louisiana has not lost a series to App State in Boone, N.C., since 2015. However, this year’s Mountaineers boast the Sun Belt’s most productive offense with a league-leading 506 hits, .319 batting average and 392 runs. Both teams sit inside the Top 100 of the RPI and will attempt to maintain top-six positioning in the Sun Belt standings to secure a bye into the double-elimination portion of the conference tournament. 
• STATE OF AFFAIRS – After a 9-4 start in Sun Belt Conference play—including a 9-1 conference run from late March to early April—Texas State has managed just one victory in its last 11 conference games to fall into a four-way tie for the all-important 10th and final qualifying position for the Sun Belt Baseball Championship presented by Troy University. Arkansas State, which sits in a three-way tie for seventh in the Sun Belt ledger, will also look to improve its postseason positioning when it hosts the Bobcats for a Top 65 RPI three-game weekend series. Texas State has won five of the last six head-to-head series, though the Red Wolves did earn their victory in the most recent matchup in Jonesboro in 2024. 
• RIVALRY RENEWED – When it hosts in-state rival South Alabama for a Top 65 RPI three-game set this weekend, Troy will be looking for back-to-back series wins over its rival Jaguars for the first time since 2018 and 2019. A series victory over South Alabama would also be the first for the Trojans on their home field since 2018. The Jaguars carry a Sun Belt-leading five-game winning streak into the matchup, having swept Texas State a week ago to move into fourth place in the Sun Belt standings.  

 
SUN BELT BASEBALL SERIES – WEEK 9
 

Series	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Louisiana at App State	5:00 p.m.	2:00 p.m.	12:00 p.m.
Texas State at Arkansas State	6:00 p.m.	6:00 p.m.	11:00 a.m.
Old Dominion at No. 7 Coastal Carolina	5:00 p.m.	1:00 p.m.	12:00 p.m.
Georgia State at Georgia Southern	6:00 p.m.	1:00 p.m.	12:00 p.m.
No. 12 Southern Miss at James Madison	5:00 p.m.	5:00 p.m.	12:00 p.m.
ULM at Marshall	5:00 p.m.	3:00 p.m.	12:00 p.m.
South Alabama at Troy	6:00 p.m.	3:33 p.m.	1:00 p.m.

 
All Times CT