FIU baseball earns No. 3 seed in Sun Belt Conference Tournament


The bracket is out and the FIU baseball team will be the No. 3 seed in the 2012 Sun Belt Tournament. The Panthers will open up pool play on Thursday, May 24, at noon ET against No. 6 seed Troy. FIU will then play No. 7 seed Middle Tennessee on Friday at noon ET before facing No. 2 seed Arkansas State at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Mike Martinez leads the Panthers into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

Pool A is comprised of top-seed Florida Atlantic, No. 4 South Alabama, No. 5 ULM and No. 8 WKU. Pool B is comprised of No. 2 Arkansas State, No. 3 FIU, No. 6 Troy and No. 7 Middle Tennessee. The teams with the best records from each pool will play in the championship game at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon on Comcast Sports South (CSS).


SBC Championship Coverage


Fans can catch all the action from the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament live from Bowling Green Park in Bowling Green, Ky., via SBC Extra.

Visit SunBeltSports.org and fill out the required registration information for live streaming of each game directly to your computer. SBC Extra is a broadband video channel that is the ultimate place for fans of Sun Belt member schools on the web. SBC Extra is powered by SunBeltSports.org, the Official web site of the Sun Belt Conference. Live stats and complete championship results will be available via the tournament central page and fans can follow @FIUBaseball on Twitter for updates throughout the tournament.

2012 Regular Season: A Look Back

The Panthers enjoyed a bounty of success against their SBC tournament opponents this season, taking two-of-three games from both Arkansas State and Middle Tennessee while sweeping Troy. FIU finished the regular season with a 31-23 record while going 15-14 in conference play. The Panthers are led by SBC regular season batting champion Mike Martinez who enters the tournament batting a cool .393 (75-for-191) with seven home runs and 45 RBI. Sophomore Michael Ellis is emerging as a potential ace of the staff with a team-low 3.30 ERA, and team-highs in innings pitched (76.1) and strikeouts (81).

Panthers in the SBC Tournament


The Panthers hold a 24-18 overall record in the SBC Tournament with championships in 1999 and 2010. FIU has made it to the championship game in the past two years, defeating Troy for the tournament title in 2010 and falling to UALR in 2011.