Delaware State will face MEAC Southern Division regular season champ North Carolina Central in the opening game of the 2021 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament on Thursday (May 20) at 12:00 p.m. at Marty Miller Field in Norfolk, Va.
The Hornets are the number two Northern Division seed in the four-team tournament.
Only the top two teams in each MEAC division will compete in the double-elimination tourney. The champion earns the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.
MEAC North regular season champ and tournament host Norfolk State will square off against number two South seed Florida A&M in the other opening round contest on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
Delaware State and North Carolina Central played eight times during the 2021 regular season, with the Eagles holding a 5-3 lead. The teams split four games in Dover, Del., April 16-18. NCCU won three of four games when the teams met again May 7-9 in Durham, N.C.
This will be the first MEAC Tournament meeting between the Hornets and Eagles in five years. The teams are 1-1 in post-season meetings. NC Central won the last tourney battle 10-5 in 2016. Delaware State posted a 16-2 victory in the first MEAC Tournament encounter in 2012.
The Hornets are seeking their first MEAC Tournament championship since 1989, while North Carolina Central is aiming for its first title.
The winner of the North Carolina Central / Delaware State opening round contest game will face the winner of the Norfolk State / Florida A&M game on Friday, May 21 at 12 p.m. The elimination round begins Friday at 3:30 p.m. pitting the teams that lost Thursday’s games against each other, followed by a final losers’ bracket game at 7 p.m.
The winner of the 12 p.m. contest will advance to Saturday’s championship game, while the loser will play in the elimination game on Friday evening at 7 p.m. The winner of the 7 p.m. elimination game will advance to the championship game.
The championship game is set for Saturday, May 22, beginning at 12 p.m., and will be broadcast live on FloBaseball, with the team from the winners’ bracket needing only one win to claim the championship trophy. If the team that comes out of the losers’ bracket wins the first game on Saturday, a second game will be played at a time to be determined.
Based on COVID-19 protocols that went into place on May 15, the MEAC will allow 50 percent capacity at Marty Miller Field for the 2021 MEAC Baseball Championship.