COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech baseball team kicks off its second consecutive Ohio Valley Conference tournament Wednesday, when it will bid for a tournament championship beginning with a game against Southeast Missouri at 2:30 in Brooks Stadium in Paducah, Ky.

The Golden Eagles enter the tournament as the No. 5 seed in the six-team tournament. Tech had the No. 5 seed a year ago, and eliminated No. 2 Samford and No. 3 Austin Peay before falling to Southeast Missouri.

Regular season champion Eastern Illinois earned the No. 1 seed, with Murray State the leagues No. 2 seed. Both teams will have first-round byes. Morehead State is the No. 3 seed, followed by Southeast Missouri at the No. 4. Jacksonville State won a tiebreaker with Eastern Kentucky to take the sixth and final spot in the tournament.

The winner of Tech’s opening round game against SEMO will advance to face either Eastern Illinois or Murray State on Thursday afternoon, while the loser will face the loser of the opening round game between Morehead State and Jacksonville State.

This season marks the 13th trip to the OVC tournament for Tech, including tournament championships in 1997 and 2001. The Golden Eagles are 17-21 all-time in the tournament.

The Golden Eagles enter the tournament on a hot streak in conference play, as Tech swept a three-game series from Jacksonville State in its OVC finale. The sweep gave the Golden Eagles solid positioning in the conference standings, as all eight other OVC teams had one conference series remaining.

Fans can follow all the action from Paducah in one of many ways. Every game of the tournament will be web-streamed live online at OVCsports.com. All of Tech’s games will also be broadcast on teamline, and can be heard online by following links on teamline.cc, or by calling 1-800-846-4630. Fans can also follow every game of the tournament on live stats on OVCsports.com. Links to all of these sources can be found above.

Tennessee Tech fans attending the games in Paducah this week are invited to a hospitality tent, hosted by Tech Athletics. Tech Athletics will host a hospitality tent before each Golden Eagle game, opening an hour before each contest. The tent, open to all Tech fans including alumni and parents of the team, will feature light snacks and beverages. A purple tent and TTU trailer will be located at the edge of the Brooks Stadium parking lot.