1996 Southwest Conference baseball tournament

1996 Southwest Conference
baseball tournament

Teams	7
Format	Double-elimination tournament
Finals site	Dan Law Field Lubbock, Texas
Champions	Rice  (1st title)
Winning coach	Wayne Graham  (1st title)
MVP	Jacques Landry (Rice)
Attendance	31,542 (Total) 2,628 (Average)
← 1995 SWC baseball tournament

1996 Southwest Conference baseball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 16 Texas  ‍†‍‍y	17	–	7		.708			39	–	24		.619
No. 17 Texas Tech  ‍‍‍y	15	–	9		.625			49	–	15		.766
Texas A&M  ‍‍‍	12	–	12		.500			37	–	21		.638
Baylor  ‍‍‍	11	–	13		.458			32	–	27		.542
Texas Christian  ‍‍‍	11	–	13		.458			34	–	33		.507
Houston  ‍‍‍	9	–	15		.375			29	–	28		.509
No. 25 Rice  ‍‍‡‍y	9	–	15		.375			42	–	23		.646
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 1996 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

The 1996 Southwest Conference baseball tournament was the league's annual postseason tournament used to determine the Southwest Conference's (SWC) automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. The tournament was held from May 15 through 18 at Dan Law Field on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and drew a total attendance of 31,542. ^[1] This was the first time the SWC tournament was held in Lubbock, and the final conference tournament before the conference disbanded.

The sixth-seeded Rice Owls went undefeated to win the team's first SWC tournament under fifth-season head coach Wayne Graham. ^[2]

Format and seeding

The 1996 SWC tournament was the first, and only, to feature all teams in a double-elimination tournament over four rounds.

The SWC regular season champion, Texas Longhorns, received the tournament's only first-round bye while the remaining six teams were seeded based on their regular season conference standings. TCU claimed the fourth seed by tiebreaker over Baylor, while Rice earned the sixth seed over Houston by tiebreaker.

Team	W	L	PCT	GB	Seed
Texas	17	7	.708	–	1
Texas Tech	15	9	.625	2	2
Texas A&M	12	12	.500	5	3
TCU	11	13	.458	6	4
Baylor	11	13	.458	6	5
Rice	9	15	.375	8	6
Houston	9	15	.375	8	7

Tournament

	First round					Second round					Third round										Finals
						1	Texas	7
						4	TCU	5
	4	TCU	12
	5	Baylor	5
											1	Texas	6
											6	Rice	9
	3	Texas A&M	7
	6	Rice	9
						6	Rice	7
						2	Texas Tech	3
	2	Texas Tech	11
	7	Houston	5
																					6	Rice	16	—
																					1	Texas	8	—
	Lower round 1					Lower round 2					Lower round 3					Lower final
						3	Texas A&M	1
	3	Texas A&M	12			5	Baylor	8								1	Texas	8
	7	Houston	10								5	Baylor	4			2	Texas Tech	7
											2	Texas Tech	10
						4	TCU	6
						2	Texas Tech	10

References

1. Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. Texas Tech University. Archived from the original on May 17, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
2. 2014 Baseball Fact Book (PDF). Rice Owls. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 11, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2014.