The Mid-American Conference baseball tournament is the conference baseball championship of the Mid-American Conference, Division I members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2024, the top six finishers participate in the double-elimination tournament, which is played at a neutral site. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.
The tournament began in 1981, but was not held from 1984 through 1991. It returned in 1992 and was held annually through 2019. It was scheduled to be played in May 2020, but was cancelled in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. As part of several changes announced in May 2020 related to the pandemic, the tournament was eliminated along with the post-season tournaments of seven other sports, for at least four seasons. The tournament, however, returned in May 2022 after the conference announced in May 2021 that the baseball tournament, along with all other conference tournaments that had been eliminated, would be restored for the 2021–22 athletic season. Kent State has won the most tournament titles with 12, followed by Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan with four each.
Format The MAC baseball tournament is held in mid to late May at the conclusion of the regular season. As of 2024, the tournament is held at a neutral site and the top six teams in conference play qualify, with the top two seeds receiving byes to the second round. Although the number of qualifying teams has been as low as four and as high as eight, the tournament has always used a double-elimination bracket.
The first tournament, in 1981, featured only the top four conference finishers in a double-elimination format. The following two seasons, 1982 and 1983, the conference was divided into East and West divisions and the top two seeds from each division qualified. When the tournament returned in 1992, the original format featuring the top four teams was again used and remained in place through 1997. The 1992 tournament was also when the All-Tournament Team and Most Valuable Player award were instituted.
Beginning in 1998, the conference was again divided into East and West divisions for the regular season and the tournament format was expanded to a six-team field in a double-elimination bracket, with the top three finishers from each division qualifying. In 2001, the format changed from the top three in each division to the top six overall, regardless of division. The number of qualifying teams was expanded to eight in 2008 and remained there through the 2017 tournament, but was reduced back to six teams for the 2018 and 2019 tournaments following the decisions to shutter the baseball programs at Akron in 2015 and Buffalo in 2017. The separate divisions were also eliminated after the 2017 season.
When the tournament was reinstated in 2022, the original format of only the top four teams qualifying was instituted again and remained in place for 2023. The conference expanded the tournament back to six teams in 2024 as part of its return to a neutral location.
Location Initially, the tournament was hosted by the top seed, with Central Michigan hosting the inaugural tournament in 1981 at Theunissen Stadium in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The following season, the MAC held the tournament at a neutral location, playing the 1982 tournament at Franklin County Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The tournament returned to a campus site in 1983, being hosted by Western Michigan at Hyames Field in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
When the tournament was revived in 1992, it continued to be held at campus sites, usually the home field of the top seed. Kent State hosted the first three tournaments after it was revived at Gene Michael Field in Kent, Ohio. The top seed continued to host through the 2007 tournament.
The conference began using a neutral site in 2008. V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio, hosted the tournament from 2008 through 2011, followed by ForeFront Field (initially known as All Pro Freight Stadium, later known as Mercy Health Park and Crushers Stadium) in Avon, Ohio, where it remained from 2012 through 2019 and was scheduled to be held in 2020. Following the tournament's reinstatement in 2022, it was again held at campus sites in 2022 and 2023, but the conference announced in August 2023 that the tournament would return to ForeFront Field, then known as Mercy Health Park, in 2024 through at least 2026.
Champions
By year The following is a list of tournament champions and sites listed by year. Year Site Champion MVP 1981 Theunissen Stadium • Mount Pleasant, Michigan — 1982 Franklin County Stadium • Columbus, Ohio — 1983 Hyames Field • Kalamazoo, Michigan — No tournament held, 1984–1991 1992 Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio Dustin Hermanson (Kent State) 1993 Ryan Beeney (Kent State) 1994 Tim Fails (Kent State) 1995 Steller Field • Bowling Green, Ohio Pat Mahoney (Central Michigan) 1996 Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio Dave Yoder (Akron) 1997 Trautwein Field • Athens, Ohio Bart Leahy (Ohio) 1998 Steller Field • Bowling Green, Ohio Bob Niemet (Bowling Green) 1999 Ball Baseball Field • Muncie, Indiana Sean Ryan (Bowling Green) 2000 Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio John Lackaff (Miami) 2001 Ball Diamond • Muncie, Indiana John Van Benschoten (Kent State) 2002 Steller Field • Bowling Green, Ohio Brad Snyder (Ball State) 2003 Gene Michael Field • Kent, Ohio Brian Bixler (Eastern Michigan) 2004 Theunissen Stadium • Mt. Pleasant, Michigan Ryan Ford (Eastern Michigan)/Andy Sonnanstine (Kent State) 2005 Hayden Park • Oxford, Ohio Paul Frietch (Miami) 2006 Schoonover Stadium • Kent, Ohio Kyle Dygert (Ball State) 2007 Oestrike Stadium • Ypsilanti, Michigan Jason Patton (Kent State) 2008 V.A. Memorial Stadium • Chillicothe, Ohio Jack Leonard (Eastern Michigan) 2009 Chris Tremblay (Kent State) 2010 Justin Gill (Kent State) 2011 David Starn (Kent State) 2012 All Pro Freight Stadium • Avon, Ohio Kent State David Starn (Kent State) 2013 Nick Bruns (Bowling Green) 2014 Cody Koch (Kent State) 2015 Logan Cozart (Ohio) 2016 Keegan Akin (Western Michigan) 2017 Sprenger Stadium • Avon, Ohio Spencer Ibarra (Ohio) 2018 Eli Kraus (Kent State) 2019 Griffin Lockwood-Powell (Central Michigan) 2020 Crushers Stadium • Avon, Ohio Cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic No tournament held in 2021 2022 Ball Diamond • Muncie, Indiana Central Michigan Garrett Navarra (Central Michigan) 2023 Schoonover Stadium • Kent, Ohio Ball State Adam Tellier (Ball State) 2024 Crushers Stadium • Avon, Ohio Western Michigan Dylan Nevar (Western Michigan) 2025 Miami Dom Krupinski (Miami) 2026 ForeFront Field • Avon, Ohio Northern IllinoisMax Vaisvila (Northern Illinois)
By school The following is a list of tournament champions listed by school and the years each team was eligible to play in the tournament. Team Tenure Championships Title Years Kent State 1981–19831992–20202022–present 12 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2018 Eastern Michigan 1981–19831992–20202022–present 4 1981, 1982, 2003, 2008 Central Michigan 1981–20201992–20202022–present 4 1994, 1995, 2019, 2022 Miami 1981–19831992–20202022–present 4 1983, 2000, 2005, 2025 Bowling Green 1981–19831992–20202022–present 3 1998, 1999, 2013 Ohio 1981–19831992–20202022–present 3 1997, 2015, 2017 Ball State 1981–19831992–20202022–present 2 2006, 2023 Western Michigan 1981–19831992–20202022–present 2 2016, 2024 Akron 1993–201520202022–present 1 1996 Toledo 1981–19831992–20202022–present 0 Northern Illinois 1981–19821998–20202022–2026 1 2026 Marshall 1998–2005 0 Buffalo 2001–2017 0 Former conference members shaded in ██ silver
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