GREENVILLE, S.C. (May 19, 2026) – The ETSU baseball team will open the 2026 Southern Conference (SoCon) Baseball Tournament on Wednesday with a single-elimination game against No. 7 seed UNC Greensboro. The Bucs, the No. 6 seed, are scheduled to face the Spartans at 12:30 p.m. at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Last Time Out – The Buccaneers closed out the regular season with a loss to Mercer on Saturday by a score of 11-6. With the loss, ETSU moves into postseason play with a record of 30-22 overall and 10-11 in SoCon play.
Postseason Plaudits for the Bucs – Eight different Buccaneers earned All-SoCon honors earlier today.
Tristan Curless earned First Team recognition, while
Michael Harpster,
Ian Guanzon,
Henry Ferguson,
Jamie Palmese, and
Nate Conner received Second Team honors.
Cooper Jones and
Mason Ault were selected to the league's All-Freshman Team. The duo of Ferguson and Palmese also earned All-Defensive Team honors in addition to their spots on the Second Team.
Bracket Breakdown – Unlike in years past, this season's SoCon Tournament bracket is split into two four-team pods. The winner of the ETSU/UNCG game on Wednesday will play later that day against the No. 3 seed, Samford, around 7:30 p.m., marking the start of the double-elimination portion of the tournament. From there, the winner advances to face No. 2 seed Western Carolina at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, while the losing team awaits the loser of Thursday's game between the Catamounts and a to-be-determined opponent. After those matchups, the last team standing on this side of the bracket will meet the winner from the other side, which features top-seeded Mercer, No. 4 seed Wofford, No. 5 seed The Citadel, and No. 8 seed VMI. That team will emerge in a single-elimination game on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU. The winner of that final game will earn the SoCon's automatic NCAA Tournament bid. For more information on the SoCon Tournament, click
HERE.
SoCon Tournament History – This marks ETSU's 27th appearance in the SoCon Tournament, with an all-time record of 27 wins and 47 losses in the event. Current Head Coach
Joe Pennucci has led the team to nine of those 27 tournament wins. In 2025, the Bucs won three straight games to clinch an NCAA Tournament berth. ETSU has recorded at least one tournament win in each of its last three appearances.
About UNC Greensboro – UNCG comes into the tournament with a 22-31 overall record and a 7-14 mark in Southern Conference play. The Spartans have surged recently, winning seven of their last 10 games, including victories over The Citadel, Davidson, Virginia Tech, Western Carolina, and a three-game sweep of VMI.
Series Rewind vs. UNCG – ETSU and UNCG have squared off 70 times, with the Spartans earning 43 victories. Earlier this season in Greensboro, the Bucs took two out of three games. UNCG claimed the opener, 6-3; however, ETSU responded with wins in the next two, 8-2 and 15-8. In the SoCon Tournament, ETSU holds a 3-5 record against the Spartans, last facing them in 2024 when the Bucs eliminated top-seeded UNC Greensboro, 10-7, after overcoming a 6-0 deficit with 10 runs in the final two innings.
For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the baseball tab.
