AUSTIN, Texas – The Concordia Texas baseball team captured their third regular season conference title in five years and will be the host of the "blue bracket" of the American Southwest Conference Tournament, facing East Texas Baptist on Friday.

The ASC Tournament features two, four-team, double elimination tournaments with Concordia being the top seed and host of the blue bracket, while Sul Ross State, the No. 2 seed, will host the red bracket.

The first round will have UT Tyler facing Ozarks in the 4-seed versus 5-seed matchup at 11 a.m., while the Tornados will face the eighth-seeded Tigers on Friday at 3 p.m. from Tornado Field.

Concordia Texas enters the postseason with a 26-13, 18-6 ASC record, and have won eight of their last nine series, including taking two of three from the Patriots to clinch the No. 1 seed and the ASC regular season title.

In their regular season matchup, the Tornados swept ETBU on the road, outscoring them 37-16, including a 19-9 blowout in the series finale.

In the box, CTX will look to St. Edward's transfer Carson Cox, who leads the team in batting average with a .407 mark, doubles, home runs and RBIs. He has reached safely in his last seven games and has 20 multi-hit games on the year.

Casen Novak, meanwhile, is an on-base machine, leading the team with a .480 on-base percentage, 39 runs scored and has 12 stolen bases on the season.

On the mound, the Tornados will turn to Matthew Williams and Justin Traxler.

The right-handed Williams, in his second year at CTX, holds a 3.26 ERA, along with a 6-3 record and has thrown four seven-inning complete games, including two shutouts. He has struck out a team-high 74 batters compared to only 12 walks with opponents holding a .215 batting average.

Traxler, in his final season as a Tornado, became the all-time saves leader in program history earlier this season and currently is tied for the program's single-season record for saves with eight on the year.

In over 55 innings of work, Traxler has struck out 55 batters and holds a team-leading 1.63 ERA. He has also picked up four wins and holds opponents to a .215 batting average as well.

Concordia Texas will face ETBU at 3 p.m. on Friday with the winner advancing to the winner's bracket game on Saturday.

For all information on the tournament, including ticket prices, links to the games and more, check out the tournament central page here.