For the first time since 2006, the FIU baseball team will head to the Sun Belt Conference Championship tournament, and they will do so as the No. 4 seed. FIU will face the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in the very first game of the tournament, with first pitch from Troy, Ala. set for 10 a.m. (ET). The Golden Panthers took the season series from UL, winning two of three at University Park Stadium.

The winner of that game will face the winner of No. 1 Middle Tennessee and No. 8 Florida Atlantic.

FIU closed out the regular season with a win over FAU, pushing their season record to 34-21. After winning just 20 games last year, the Golden Panthers have already won 34 this year, making this the second-best turnaround ever, second only to the 1979 team that won 45 games after winning just 27 in '78.

Tyler Townsend closed out the 2009 regular season doing more of the same that he has done all year.  Townsend is now FIU's all time leader in career RBIs, single season RBIs, and he is one home run away from tying the career-home run mark of 44.

The series against FAU also saw the return of another of FIU's best hitters in the form of Ryan Mollica. After missing 15 games due to illness, Mollica returned to the lineup on Thursday and picked up a hit in his first at-bat.

The Cajuns (25-28-1; 14-15 SBC) are led offensively by Greg Fontenot, who has hit .342 on the tear with a couple of home runs and 29 batted in. On the hill, Zach Osborne has been the main weapon for UL, posting a 4-3 record with a 3.62 ERA on the year.

For more tournament information be sure to visit www.SunBeltSports.org