April 29, 2012

2012 Patriot League Baseball Championship Central

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — The field of four is set in baseball as Navy and Lafayette each punched the final two tickets to the 2012 Patriot League Tournament on Sunday.

Army and Holy Cross, which split a weekend four-game series, both had clinched playoff berths the prior weekend.

Army, 18-2 in League play, will be the No. 1 seed and will host the Patriot League best-of-three semifinal series against No. 4 Lafayette, which won three of four at Bucknell to finish with a 7-13 record. Bucknell also finished 7-13, but Lafayette owned the tie-breaker having won three of four games in the series.

Holy Cross, which became the only team to defeat Army in League play with a pair of wins over the weekend, finished 13-7 in League play and will host the other best-of-three semifinal against No. 3-seeded Navy. The Mids won a pair of games against Lehigh to finish 9-11 in League play. Navy won six of its last eight games to grab the No. 3 seed.

The Patriot League semifinals will begin on Saturday, May 12, with the first two games of the three-game series. If a third game is needed, it will be played Sunday, May 13.

The two semifinal winners will match up in a three-game series on May 19-20.