Up to Bat: First Pitch: 9 a.m. CT
GCAC baseball's new kids, Southern University at New Orleans, enter this year's championship as the No. 4 seed and will take on No. 5 Rust College at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The two teams ended the regular season in a heated battle in Holly Springs where the Knights got the best of the Bearcats, winning the three-game series 2-1. The Knights, 17-3 in conference play, finished the regular season 6-4 in their last 10 games behind their ace on the mound, Noah Ramirez, and their top performers Kyler Sheppard and Chase Lovick. Rust can get hot quickly, making no lead safe with the team that won the GCAC 2023 Regular Season Title and finished as the 2023 Championship Runners-Up. Look for this rematch to be an exciting start to the 2024 Tournament.
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On Deck: 12:30 p.m. CT
Game two brings in the GCAC 2024 Regular Season Champs and No. 1 seed Wiley University Wildcats against the No. 8 Philander Smith University Panthers. This is another matchup from the last series of the regular season. This year's regular season title is the first in program history for Wiley since winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in 1956. The Wildcat's 24 wins in the regular season are the most under Head Coach Kendrick Biggs. Wiley's Keyon Guillory was named NAIA Baseball Player of the Week on April 22, 2024, and has been named GCAC Pitcher of the Week three times this season. The Panthers, who returned just six players this year, are led offensively by Mitchell Brown, who is batting .380.
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In the Hole: 4 & 7:30 p.m. CT
Reigning Champs Dillard University Bleu Devils come into the tournament on a 9-1 run, including a recent three-game sweep of No. 6 Tougaloo College to end the regular season. 2023 Tournament MVP Jorge leads the Bleu Devils Guerra on the mound while Jalen Ayers carries the team offensively, hitting .306 and reaching base .462 percent of his chances. Ayers leads the Bleu Devils with 26 RBIs and 34 hits. On the mound for the Bulldogs, Caleb Carter averages 6.7 strikeouts per game and has pitched a conference-best seven complete games.
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The final game of Day One is a matchup between No. 2 Talladega College and No. 7 Oakwood University. Despite a tough season, the Ambassadors look to make some noise in this year's tournament through the bat of Jeremy Mattos, who leads Oakwood with 27 hits and Jaylen Farris, who has amassed 14 RBIs. Talladega, who returned to the GCAC this year, comes into the tournament hot on Wiley's heals, on a 10-game win streak. The Tornadoes lead the GCAC with a team batting average of .341 on 467 hits and have clocked 343 RBIs, all team bests in the conference. Dega's Samuel Guadamuz was named NAIA Pitcher of the Week on April 2, 2024, becoming the first GCAC player to win the honor in more than 15 years and the first from an HBCU to win since 2007.
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