In what seems to be a yearly tradition at this rate, a Sun Belt team is playing in the College World Series, once more proving the depth of the Sun Belt Conference compared to the rest of the country. People outside of the southeastern part of the United States, might see the name Troy or even the Sun Belt Conference logo and scoff at the idea of a power conference, but I’m here to tell you that outside of the Southeastern Conference for obvious reasons, the Sun Belt has a case not only to be a high major baseball league, but has the potential to be second to be second behind the SEC in the pecking order for sheer talent placement across the league itself. Obviously, the ACC is a solid baseball conference, but it’s on the same ground as the Sun Belt, and given the success of the Sun Belt, the conference is above the Big 10 and Big 12 in this new age of college baseball. 

Last year, Coastal Carolina took a powerhouse, the LSU Tigers, down to the wire in the National Championship Final series; Coastal Carolina won the championship in 2016. Then you have the household name of Southern Miss, who is always in the hunt, either with winning the Sun Belt outright or being a downright near impossible team to beat in a Regional. Not to mention, all the success the Sun Belt teams have had in the midweek matchups with programs out of the SEC, ACC, and even the Big 10. 

When it comes to metrics, the Sun Belt is right there in the hunt for RPI and among the SEC’s top in terms of strength of schedule. Take Troy, for example: the Trojans were among the last four teams in a Regional but faced the 8th-hardest schedule in the College World Series. They come into the College World Series battle-tested and, honestly, a true dark horse to stick around in Omaha for at least a few days. Coach Meade made the case for his team to make the tournament after losing to Southern Miss in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinal round, and the Trojans have taken full advantage of the opportunity, adding their name to the long-standing legacy of Sun Belt Conference success in College Baseball. 

So what makes the Sun Belt an elite conference in baseball? 

For starters, it’s the depth of the conference from both the roster buildups and the depth of the coaches in the league that combination makes for the level of sustained success we see across the league and has helped with the development of Sun Belt baseball. This year alone, the conference has had five teams make a regional, with Southern Miss being re-added to the other five times in the last five years, with Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern being the other two schools. 

Second, Sun Belt teams win baseball games. No matter who they schedule, the Sun Belt always finds a way to win against the best teams. From midweek wins over Alabama, Mississippi State, Florida, and even an Ole Miss, to the tournament success over a large portion of college baseball, with this year’s victim being the Florida Gators as they were taken down by Troy in the Gainesville Regional, Sun Belt programs have earned the respect of the household names and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. 

Lastly, for a conference largely based in small southern towns, the attendance at Sun Belt Baseball games rivals that of anyone not named LSU, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss. With places like Pete Taylor Park and Spring Brooks Stadium drawing anywhere from 3,500 to 7,000, to Troy, which just broke an all-time attendance record this past weekend with a crowd of 7,003, as the Trojan faithful gathered to watch Troy take down Little Rock to secure a place in the College World Series. People care about their respective Sun Belt baseball programs with the same excitement as those in the Southeastern Conference or the ACC might, but on a scaled-down version due to budget reasons. At its core, Sun Belt fans have a deep love for the sport of college baseball. 

In what almost feels like an every-year occurrence around this time of the year, people tend to try to rationalize college baseball by using college football terms, but in this instance, that just simply doesn’t work. The Sun Belt has earned respect, and college baseball fans deserve to enjoy the brand itself as one of the premier conference brands in college baseball. 

Troy will open the College World Series on Friday afternoon in the first game of the College World Series as they take on the Mountaineers of West Virginia. 

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