1996 Southeastern Conference baseball tournament

1996 Southeastern Conference
Baseball Tournament
Teams	8
Format	Play-in round followed by six-team double elimination
Finals site	Hoover Metropolitan Stadium; Hoover, Alabama;
Champions	Alabama (3rd title)
Winning coach	Jim Wells (2nd title)
MVP	Joe Caruso (Alabama)
Attendance	57,231
	← 1995; SEC Baseball Tournament; 1997 →;

The 1996 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament was the 1996 postseason baseball championship of the NCAA Division I Southeastern Conference, held at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama from May 15–19. Alabama defeated Florida in the championship game, earning the conference's automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.^[1]^[2]

Format

Eight teams qualified for the league tournament. The teams seeded fifth through eighth played a single-elimination play-in round. The two winners of the play-in games advanced to the main bracket, which was a six-team, double-elimination format, the same as the NCAA regional format used through 1998.

Regular season results

Eastern Division
Team	W	L	Pct	GB	Seed
Florida	20	10	.667	--	2
Tennessee	18	12	.600	2	4
Kentucky	15	14	.517	4.5	6
Vanderbilt	14	16	.467	6	8
South Carolina	13	17	.433	7	--
Georgia	8	21	.276	12.5	--

Western Division
Team	W	L	Pct	GB	Seed
Alabama	20	10	.667	--	1
LSU	20	10	.667	--	3
Mississippi State	17	13	.567	3	5
Arkansas	15	15	.500	5	7
Auburn	12	18	.400	8	--
Ole Miss	7	23	.304	13	--

^[3]

Tournament

Play-in games

Play-In Game

6	Kentucky	7

7	Arkansas	5

Play-In Game

5	Mississippi State	8

8	Vanderbilt	5

Main bracket


Round 1			Round 2			Quarterfinals			Semifinals			Final
Round 1			Round 2			Quarterfinals			Semifinals			Final


1	Alabama	3
1	Alabama	3
6	Kentucky	2	1	Alabama	3
6	Kentucky	2	1	Alabama	3
			4	Tennessee	1
			4	Tennessee	1
2	Florida	6				1	Alabama	3
2	Florida	6				1	Alabama	3
5	Mississippi State	5				2	Florida	7
5	Mississippi State	5				2	Florida	7
			2	Florida	6							2	Florida	5	5
			2	Florida	6							2	Florida	5	5
			3	LSU	2							1	Alabama	10	15
			3	LSU	2							1	Alabama	10	15
3	LSU	3							1	Alabama	16
3	LSU	3							1	Alabama	16
4	Tennessee	1				3	LSU	11	6	Kentucky	8
4	Tennessee	1				3	LSU	11	6	Kentucky	8
			6	Kentucky	4	6	Kentucky	12
			6	Kentucky	4	6	Kentucky	12
			5	Mississippi State	1
			5	Mississippi State	1

^[1]

All-tournament team

Position	Player	School
1B	Chuck Hazzard	Alabama
2B	Joe Caruso	Alabama
3B	Travis Hayes	Kentucky
SS	Brad Freeman	Mississippi State
C	Eric Castaldo	Florida
OF	Chad Green	Kentucky
OF	Doug Hall	Alabama
OF	Dustan Mohr	Alabama
DH	Chris Moller	Alabama
P	R. A. Dickey	Tennessee
P	Eddie Yarnall	LSU
MVP	Joe Caruso	Alabama

^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "SEC Tournament History". SECDigitalNetwork.com. The Southeastern Conference. pp. 25–31. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
^ "Hoover Wants to Keep SEC Baseball Tourney". The Times Daily. 6 May 1999. p. 4C. The tournament was held at the Met in 1996, ...
^ Nation, Boyd. "College Baseball Conference Standings -- 1996". BoydsWorld.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2012.

[records-1] "SEC Tournament History". SECDigitalNetwork.com. The Southeastern Conference. pp. 25–31. Retrieved 29 May 2012.

[1996site-2] "Hoover Wants to Keep SEC Baseball Tourney". The Times Daily. 6 May 1999. p. 4C. The tournament was held at the Met in 1996, ...

[1996standings-3] Nation, Boyd. "College Baseball Conference Standings -- 1996". BoydsWorld.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2012.

[1]

[2]

[3]