2026 American Conference baseball tournament
| Teams | 8 |
|---|---|
| Format | Single-elimination play-in, then six-team double-elimination tournament with championship game |
| Finals site | |
| Champions | East Carolina (5th title) |
| Winning coach | Cliff Godwin (5th title) |
| MVP | Ethan Norby (East Carolina) |
| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | W | L | T | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UTSA † | 17 | – | 10 | – | 0 | .630 | 38 | – | 20 | – | 0 | .655 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| East Carolina †‡y | 17 | – | 10 | – | 0 | .630 | 36 | – | 22 | – | 1 | .619 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rice | 16 | – | 11 | – | 0 | .593 | 35 | – | 24 | – | 0 | .593 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UAB | 15 | – | 12 | – | 0 | .556 | 32 | – | 26 | – | 0 | .552 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Memphis | 13 | – | 14 | – | 0 | .481 | 24 | – | 34 | – | 0 | .414 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Florida Atlantic | 12 | – | 15 | – | 0 | .444 | 28 | – | 28 | – | 0 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wichita State | 12 | – | 15 | – | 0 | .444 | 31 | – | 29 | – | 0 | .517 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Charlotte | 12 | – | 15 | – | 0 | .444 | 28 | – | 28 | – | 0 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Florida | 11 | – | 16 | – | 0 | .407 | 32 | – | 21 | – | 0 | .604 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tulane | 10 | – | 17 | – | 0 | .370 | 25 | – | 31 | – | 0 | .446 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of May 26, 2026[1] Rankings from D1Baseball | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2026 American Conference baseball tournament was held at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Florida from May 20 through May 24. The event, which was held at the end of the conference regular season, determined the champion of the American Conference for the 2026 season. The winner of the conference tournament, East Carolina, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.[2]
This was the first conference tournament under the American Conference name. In July 2025, the conference dropped the word "Athletic" from its name.[3]
Format and seeding
The top eight American baseball teams participated in the tournament, with the bottom four seeds playing in 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.[4] The East Carolina Pirates are the defending champions, having won the 2025 edition of the tournament.
Bracket
| Play-in round Wednesday, May 20 | Second round Thursday, May 21 | Third round Friday, May 22 | Semifinals Saturday, May 23 | Final Sunday May, 24 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Game 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Game 3 | 3 | Rice | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Game 1 | 7 | Wichita State | 4 | 2 | East Carolina | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| Game 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | Florida Atlantic | 2 | 3 | Rice | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | East Carolina | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Wichita State | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | UTSA | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Game 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Game 4 | 5 | Memphis | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Game 2 | 5 | Memphis | 7 | 1 | UTSA | 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Memphis | 13 | 4 | UAB | 3 | Game 12 | |||||||||||||||||
| 8 | Charlotte | 9 | 1 | UTSA | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | East Carolina | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Lower third round Friday, May 22 | Lower semifinal Saturday, May 23 | Lower final Saturday, May 23 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Game 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | UAB | 9 | Game 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Rice | 6 | Game 10 | 2 | East Carolina | 138 | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | UAB | 12 | 7 | Wichita State | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Game 8 | 7 | Wichita State | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | Wichita State | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Memphis | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Schedule
| Game | Time* | Matchup# | Score | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, May 20 | ||||||
| 1 | 1:00pm | No. 6 Florida Atlantic vs No. 7 Wichita State | 2–3 | Florida Atlantic eliminated | ||
| 2 | 5:00pm | No. 5 Memphis vs No. 8 Charlotte | 13–9 | Charlotte eliminated | ||
| Thursday, May 21 | ||||||
| 3 | 1:00pm | No. 3 Rice vs No. 7 Wichita State | 5–4 | |||
| 4 | 5:25pm | No. 4 UAB vs No. 5 Memphis | 3–7 | |||
| Friday, May 22 | ||||||
| 5 | 9:00am | No. 2 East Carolina vs No. 3 Rice | 4–3 | |||
| 6 | 12:50pm | No. 1 UTSA vs No. 5 Memphis | 4–0 | |||
| 7 | 4:30pm | No. 4 UAB vs No. 3 Rice | 9–6 | Rice eliminated | ||
| 8 | 9:07pm | No. 7 Wichita State vs No. 5 Memphis | 6–4 | Memphis eliminated | ||
| Saturday, May 23 | ||||||
| 9 | 10:00am | No. 2 East Carolina vs No. 1 UTSA | 2–4 | |||
| 10 | 2:05pm | No. 4 UAB vs No. 7 Wichita State | 12–14 | UAB eliminated | ||
| 11 | 7:10pm | No. 7 Wichita State vs No. 2 East Carolina | 3–138 | Wichita State eliminated | ||
| Championship – Sunday, May 24 | ||||||
| 12 | 12:00pm | No. 1 UTSA vs No. 2 East Carolina | 0–1 | Championship game | ||
| *Game times in EDT. # – Rankings denote tournament seed. | ||||||
References
- ↑ "Baseball Standings". theamerican.com. American Conference. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
- ↑ "2026 American Baseball Championship". The American. Retrieved April 2, 2026.
- ↑ Writer, Brett Vito Staff (2025-07-21). "American Athletic Conference rebrands, switching to just American Conference". Denton Record-Chronicle. Retrieved 2026-01-07.
- ↑ "2026 American Baseball Championship Bracket (PDF) - American Conference" (PDF). theamerican.org.