Grit and Glory: How a Modest Tournament Sparked a Historic Rise in Sun Belt Baseball

The Sun Belt Conference was founded on Aug. 4, 1976, primarily as a basketball league. After its first year, the conference began sponsoring baseball, launching with just four teams and a small postseason tournament. New Orleans won the inaugural event and helped set the stage for decades of growth in the sport.

The Privateers, now members of the Southland Conference, became the first Sun Belt team to reach the NCAA Tournament. They defeated Mississippi State in the first round of the South Regional before dropping their next two games.

In 1989, the conference sent multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. Three programs earned bids, including tournament champion Jacksonville, making just its second appearance since moving to Division I in July 1973. South Alabama advanced to the Central Regional semifinals, winning two games before falling one run short of the final.

#TBT look at the legends on the cover of the 1995 media guide.

👀 @chayes11_JU

That team finished with 41 wins, won the Sun Belt and went to the Clemson Regional.#JUPhinsUp pic.twitter.com/BtL8v5Oirx

— Jacksonville Baseball (@JUBaseball) April 23, 2020

Sending multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament became a hallmark of the Sun Belt. From 1989 to 2013, the league earned multiple bids each season. However, in five seasons between 2014 and 2024 — excluding 2020, when the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic — only one Sun Belt team qualified for the postseason each year.

When the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1999, the Sun Belt reached the Super Regionals for the first time. Louisiana-Lafayette — rebranded as Louisiana in 2017 — went undefeated in the Houston Regional and took Game 1 from No. 8 seed Rice before falling in the next two games.

Aside from Florida International, a Sun Belt member from 1999 to 2013 that was swept by No. 3 seed USC in the 2001 regional, Louisiana had been the only team to advance past the regional round while in the conference. The Ragin’ Cajuns’ best postseason run came in 2000, when they upset No. 1 overall seed South Carolina in the Super Regionals to reach the College World Series. After an opening loss to Stanford, Louisiana battled back to the semifinals before falling again to the Cardinal, 19-9.

On this date 20 years ago, the 𝘙𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯’ 𝘊𝘢𝘫𝘶𝘯𝘴 picked up their first-ever win in the College World Series by beating San Jose State 6-3!

📺: https://t.co/CJcVsQMvNj #TBT | #GeauxCajuns pic.twitter.com/LvRhxMafdX

— Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns® Baseball (@RaginCajunsBSB) June 11, 2020

In 2023, first-year member Southern Miss carried momentum from winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament into the NCAA postseason. After dropping its opening game to Samford in the Auburn Regional, the Golden Eagles eliminated No. 13 seed Auburn and defeated Penn in back-to-back games to advance. With No. 4 seed Clemson eliminated in its own regional, Southern Miss hosted Tennessee in the Super Regional. The series went the distance, but the Golden Eagles fell to the Volunteers two games to one.

There have been at least 11 instances in which a Sun Belt school advanced to a winner-take-all game in a regional. The most recent came in 2023, when Coastal Carolina lost to Duke in Game 7. The 10th-seeded Chanticleers, aiming to reach their first Super Regional since winning the 2016 national title, fell to Rider in extra innings in the opening round. They then won three straight games, including an 8-6 win over Duke in their third consecutive elimination game.

The momentum carried into 2025, a landmark year for the conference. The Sun Belt earned multiple NCAA bids and, for the first time in conference history, had two teams host regionals: Southern Miss and Coastal Carolina.

That tournament saw Coastal Carolina make history with the most successful postseason run ever by a Sun Belt member. After hosting and advancing through its regional, the Chanticleers swept Auburn in the Super Regional to return to the College World Series for the first time since their 2016 national championship — a title won while still in the Big South Conference.

“This is no Cinderella story. Only eight teams have been to regionals more times than us. Over the same time period, we have the ninth most wins. We are one of the premier, most successful college baseball programs.”

For the second time, @CoastalBaseball is Omaha bound. pic.twitter.com/CbYQx4lxz3

— D1Baseball (@d1baseball) June 8, 2025

Coastal’s path through Omaha was dominant. It opened with a 7-4 victory over Arizona, followed by a 6-2 win over No. 8 seed Oregon State. With a spot in the championship series on the line, Coastal overwhelmed Louisville 11-3 to complete an undefeated bracket run. It marked just the second time a Sun Belt team reached Omaha and the first time any reached the CWS championship final.

In the best-of-three title series, the Chanticleers faced SEC powerhouse LSU. Coastal dropped two tightly contested games, finishing as national runner-up — but not before cementing the deepest College World Series run in Sun Belt history and showing the conference’s growing national relevance.