NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State baseball team has earned the No. 2 seed from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's Northern Division and will open play in the six-team conference tournament this Wednesday in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The Spartans (18-28) will play two-time defending champion Bethune-Cookman (20-32), the MEAC South No. 3 seed, at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the opening round. All games will be played at Sliwa Stadium on the campus of Embry-Riddle University. The first round also features MEAC South No. 2 Florida A&M (24-28) against North No. 3 Maryland Eastern Shore (12-39), which opens the double-elimination tournament at noon Wednesday. 

The regular-season divisional champions, North Carolina A&T (29-23) from the South and Coppin State (20-21-1) from the North, receive first-round byes and don't play until Thursday. The championship round is set for Saturday.

The Spartans would play N.C. A&T at noon Thursday should they win their opening game against B-CU, which defeated NSU for the MEAC title each of the last two seasons. The loser of the NSU-BCU game turns around and plays a second time Wednesday, against the FAMU-MDES loser, in an elimination game.

NSU finished the regular season with a 13-10 conference record and has finished at least .500 in each of the seven years since the MEAC split into two divisions for baseball. The Spartans have advanced to the championship round three of the last four seasons, but are still searching for their first MEAC title.

Tickets are $7 per day or $20 for a tournament pass which includes tickets to all four days.