1997 Mid-American Conference baseball tournament

The 1997 Mid-American Conference baseball tournament took place in May 1997. The top four regular season finishers met in the double-elimination tournament held at Trautwein Field on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. This was the ninth Mid-American Conference postseason tournament to determine a champion. Top seeded Ohio won their first tournament championship to earn the conference's automatic bid to the 1997 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.^[2][3]

1997 Mid-American Conference
baseball tournament

Teams	4
Format	Double-elimination
Finals site	Trautwein Field Athens, OH
Champions	Ohio (1st title)
Winning coach	Joe Carbone (1st title)
MVP	Bart Leahy (Ohio)
← 1996 baseball tournament 1998 →

1997 Mid-American Conference baseball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Ohio  ‍†‍‡‍y	22	–	9		.710			43	–	18		.705
Ball State  ‍‍‍	21	–	10		.677			40	–	19		.678
Kent State  ‍‍‍	18	–	13		.581			29	–	28		.509
Miami  ‍‍‍	17	–	13		.567			27	–	28		.491
Eastern Michigan  ‍‍‍	17	–	14		.548			29	–	25		.537
Central Michigan  ‍‍‍	14	–	14		.500			29	–	20		.592
Akron  ‍‍‍	31	–	23		.574			14	–	16		.467
Bowling Green  ‍‍‍	13	–	17		.433			24	–	27		.471
Toledo  ‍‍‍	9	–	20		.310			18	–	33		.353
Western Michigan  ‍‍‍	6	–	24		.200			14	–	39		.264
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1997[1] Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

Seeding and format

The top four finishers based on conference winning percentage only, participated in the tournament. The teams played double-elimination tournament. This was the final year of the four team format, as the field expanded to six teams in 1998.

Team	W	L	PCT	GB	Seed
Ohio	22	9	.710	–	1
Ball State	21	10	.677	1	2
Kent State	18	13	.581	4	3
Miami	17	13	.567	4.5	4
Eastern Michigan	17	14	.548	5	–
Central Michigan	14	14	.500	6.5	–
Akron	14	16	.467	7.5	–
Bowling Green	13	17	.433	8.5	–
Toledo	9	20	.310	12	–
Western Michigan	6	24	.200	15.5	–

Results

	Upper round 1					Upper final					Final
	1	Ohio	23
	4	Miami	4
						1	Ohio	9
						2	Ball State	6
	2	Ball State	17
	3	Kent State	5
											1	Ohio
											3	Kent State
	Lower round 1					Lower final
						2	Ball State	10
	4	Miami	6			3	Kent State	18
	3	Kent State	9

All-Tournament Team

The following players were named to the All-Tournament Team.^[4]

Name	School
Matt Guerrier	Kent State
Brady Gick	Ohio
Ed Farris	Ball State
Cary Zamilski	Kent State
Brian Dorrmann	Ball State
Damon Wilcox	Ohio
Jason Graham	Ohio
Andy Roseberry	Kent State
Jason Meier	Ball State
Bart Leahy	Ohio

Most Valuable Player

Bart Leahy won the Tournament Most Valuable Player award. Leahy played for Ohio.^[4]