NORFOLK, Va. — The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) has announced the seedings for the 2017 Baseball Championship. Norfolk State has claimed the top seed out of the Northern Division, while Bethune-Cookman will be the top seed out of the Southern Division.

The 2017 MEAC Baseball Championship will be held Wednesday-Saturday, May 17-20, at Arthur W. Purdue Stadium in Salisbury, Md.

Norfolk State, the preseason favorite in the Northern Division, took the regular-season crown for the third straight year after going 16-7 in MEAC play. Delaware State (14-10) earned the division’s No. 2 seed, while a late surge from Maryland Eastern Shore (9-15) earned the host Hawks, who won four of their last six conference games, the North’s No. 3 seed.

In the Southern Division, defending champion Bethune-Cookman vaulted from third to the top of the standings this past weekend after sweeping three games against Savannah State and watching Florida A&M take two out of three from North Carolina A&T State. The Wildcats were the preseason favorite in the division, and they come into the tournament having gone 15-8 in league play and having won four of their last five games.

North Carolina A&T State (15-9), making its first MEAC Tournament appearance since 2013, will be the division’s No. 2 seed – after being picked to finish fifth in the preseason – while Florida A&M will take the South’s No. 3 seed.

Only the top three teams in each division compete in the double-elimination tournament. Coppin State out of the Northern Division, as well as North Carolina Central and Savannah State out of the Southern Division, were eliminated.

The 2017 MEAC Baseball Championship will begin on Wednesday at 12 p.m. with South No. 2 North Carolina A&T State taking on North No. 3 Maryland Eastern Shore. That will be followed at 3:30 p.m. by a game pitting North No. 2 Delaware State and South No. 3 Florida A&M.

The losers of those two games will square off at 7 p.m. in an elimination game. Wednesday’s winners will advance to Thursday to take on the top seeds, both of which earned byes and will not play on Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday will also feature three games each at 12 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday’s championship game will begin at 1 p.m., with an if-necessary game taking place later that afternoon should the team out of the elimination bracket win the first game.

The tournament champion will earn the MEAC’s automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which will begin with regional play. The selection show will air on Monday, May 29 at 12 p.m. on ESPNU.

Tickets to the 2017 MEAC Baseball Championship are $8 per day or $25 for all four days. To purchase tickets, please visit http://www.umestickets.com?DB_OEM_ID=20800 or call (410) 621-3311. Children 12 and under will be admitted for free with a paying adult. Fans 55 and older, active and retired military, as well as first responders in uniform, will receive half off admission.

Tickets are also available at the gate each day.

For more information on baseball and other MEAC-sponsored sports, visit http://www.MEACsports.com?DB_OEM_ID=20800.