AUSTIN, Texas – For the fifth time in the last six seasons, the Concordia Texas baseball team finished in the top two of the final American Southwest Conference regular season standings and will host the first round of the ASC Tournament at Tornado Field beginning on Thursday. 
 
The Tornados finished the regular season 29-10 overall and 15-6 in ASC play to earn the number two overall seed in the tournament, finishing behind only regular season champion Howard Payne.
 
Last season, CTX advanced to the championship series for the first time since the 2014 season before falling to UT Dallas in the championship gold bracket. The Tornados will be looking to capture their first ASC Tournament crown since 2012.
 
The ASC Tournament will consist of two, four-team double elimination brackets hosted by HPU and CTX. 
 
The Tornados will host the red bracket consisting of #3 East Texas Baptist, #6 Hardin-Simmons and #7 Sul Ross State. The Yellow Jackets, meanwhile, will play host to the blue bracket featuring #4 Louisiana College, #5 UT Dallas and #8 LeTourneau. 
 
The red bracket will begin play with a matchup between No. 3 ETBU and No. 6 Hardin-Simmons at 3:00 p.m. at Tornado Field. This will be followed by a game featuring No. 2 CTX and No. 7 Sul Ross at 7:00 p.m.
 
The winner of the two contests will play at 3:00 p.m. on Friday while the losers will play in an elimination game on Friday at 11:00 a.m. The full bracket can be found on the baseball championship page, which will be updated throughout the tournament. 
 
This season, the Tornados have been led by stellar starting pitching and a consistent approach at the plate.
 
On the mound, two-time all-ASC honoree Matthew Williams has been a force. The junior out of Austin, Texas, is 10-1 on the year with a 2.97 ERA over 72.2 innings. He is second in the ASC with 76 strikeouts this season.
 
Calvin Bush has also been fantastic for the Tornados, racking up a 4-0 record to go along with three saves. Bush, a junior from Austin, Texas, has the second-best ERA in the conference at 1.98 and also sits third in strikeouts with 66 over just 41 innings on the year.
 
Offensively, the Tornados are led by junior outfielder Bret Leiferman. Out of Round Rock, Texas, Leiferman leads the team with a .371 average as well as five home runs and six doubles. He is also second on the team with 36 RBIs this season and comes into the tournament riding a five-game hitting streak. 
 
Casen Novak has also been getting on base at a high rate all season for CTX. Novak, a junior out of Flatonia, Texas, is batting .363 with a .446 on-base percentage. He also is second in the ASC in hits with 57 and has 16 multi-hit games on the year.
 
The Tornados will kick off action in the ASC Tournament against Sul Ross State on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Tornado Field.