HCAC TOURNAMENT HEADQUARTERS

Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania baseball team will welcome the four remaining teams in the 2021 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament to Kentucky Proud Park for the second round of tournament play this Thursday, May 20 through Saturday May 22.

The HCAC regular-season champions and top-seeded Pioneers earned hosting rights for the final round of the conference tournament by being the highest-seeded remaining team in the tournament, defeating 10-seed Defiance last weekend in two games. No. 2 seed Franklin, No. 4 Anderson, No. 5 Earlham, and No. 8 Bluffton all won their respective best-of-3 series last weekend to advance into this week's double elimination format tournament.

The winner of this week's double-elimination tournament will be crowned the HCAC Tournament Champions and earn the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

The Pioneers will host the other four teams at Kentucky Proud Park on the campus of the University of Kentucky, which was opened in 2018. The continued tournament will begin on Thursday morning and is scheduled to run through Saturday. A ninth "if-necessary" game would be played on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. to decide the conference tournament champion.

The second week tournament bracket has been re-seeded with Transylvania and Franklin remaining as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively. Earlham has moved up to the No. 3 seed and Anderson has moved up to the No. 4 seed while Bluffton is now the No. 5 seed in the tournament.  

Thursday and Friday's schedules will consist of three games each, beginning with Anderson facing Bluffton on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. The winner will advance to play Transylvania later that day at 5:30 p.m. while the loser will be relegated to the losers' bracket of the tournament. Thursday's opener will be followed by Franklin vs. Earlham with the winner also advancing into the winners' bracket and playing the following day at 2:00 p.m.

Admission for the 2021 HCAC Baseball Tournament is $10 per person per day and free for children aged 11 and under. Students, faculty, and staff of any HCAC institutions will be admitted for free with a current campus ID. Tickets will be sold for each session on the day of each session and both cash and credit cards are accepted. Gates will open 60 minutes prior to the first pitch of each day's session.

Facial coverings over the nose and mouth are required for all fans as they enter, exit and move around Kentucky Proud Park, as well as any time fans are unable to maintain the recommended physical distance from other fans not in their party or household.

All HCAC Tournament games will be broadcast live via the Transy Sports Network.

For more on Transylvania baseball, follow @TransyBaseball on Twitter
 
 
 
 
2021 HCAC Baseball Tournament Schedule (Final 5 remaining teams)
 

Thursday, May 20
10:30 A.M.	Game #1: No. 4 Anderson vs. No. 5 Bluffton
2:00 P.M.	Game #2: No. 2 Franklin vs. No. 3 Earlham
5:30 P.M.	Game #3: Winner Game #1 vs. No. 1 Transylvania
Friday, May 21
10:30 A.M.	Game #4: Anderson vs. Franklin
2:00 P.M.	Game #5: Transylvania vs. Earlham
5:30 P.M.	Game #6:  Anderson vs. Bluffton
Saturday, May 22
10:30 A.M.	Game #7:  Earlham vs. Anderson
2:00 P.M.	Game #8: Winner Game #7 vs. Transylvania  (Championship Game)
Sunday, May 23
12:30 P.M.	Game #9: Winner Game #5 vs. Winner Game #7 (If Necessary)