North Carolina A&T State University is set to announce that its athletic department will depart the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). The Aggies, a founding member of the MEAC, will be leaving to join the Big South Conference.
The baseball program, which has competed in the MEAC since the inception of the conference, will make the move into the Big South along with all other sports at the end of the 2020 school year.
The parting by NC A&T will be the third baseball program to have left the MEAC since Winston-Salem State in 2010 and Savannah State in 2019.
The baseball program joining the Big South is a big savings on the team’s budget as much of its travel cost will be in-state trips, no longer those long road trips to the State of Florida with matchups against both Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M and trips to Coppin State, Delaware State and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
In 2018, NC A&T was crowned Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Baseball National Champions after they won the MEAC championship, received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I post-season regionals. That same year, the Aggies finished the regular season with an overall record of 32-23, its best record in program history.
The move, which is expected, must first be approved by the school’s board of trustees which meets this Friday.