MADISON, Miss (4/30/26) – The Arkansas State men’s golf team defeated Coastal Carolina 4-1 to claim its third Sun Belt Conference Championship, second in the last three seasons.

A-State earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships after defeating Southern Miss and Coastal Carolina to cap off the four-day league tournament at Annandale Golf Club. The Red Wolves entered today’s match play as the No. 2 seed after completing stroke play in second place with a 54-hole total of 11-under par 853.

“It was a tough grind of golf today, none of these are easy to win,” said A-State head coach Mike Hagen. “We had to get past Southern Miss this morning and that’s for sure an NCAA quality team. We were able to get that and then I thought we had some good matchups against Coastal Carolina in a rematch from last year. Another one, I knew wouldn’t be easy, but I’m proud of our young guys for stepping up in a big way today.”

Junior Jake Lile gave the Red Wolves an early advantage with a 7&5 win in match two against the Chanticleers. Junior Milan Reed made it 2-0 sinking a long put on the 18th to clinch a one-up win in match one. Senior Thomas Schmidt fell 4&2 in match five, but Jake Wallis won one-up on the 18th to clinch the victory. Sophomore Cole Kirby was one-up on the 18th tee when Wallis’ match was finished.

Lile clinched the morning match with a chip in just off the seventh green. Lile won his match 3&2 to secure the 3.5-1.5 win for A-State. Southern Miss grabbed an early lead in the match with Kirby falling in match two 4&3 while match one was on an extra hole when Lile clinched. Reed won his match on the seventh hole at 3&2 while Schmidt took match five 5&4.

A-State, a top-50 squad prior to the Sun Belt Conference Championship, finds out its NCAA Regional destination on Wednesday. A selection show watch party will take place at The Social (1004 Chancery Ln) in Jonesboro with the show airing at 1 p.m. (CT) on the Golf Channel.

The Red Wolves own a single-season program record 281.73 stroke average and own four wins and three runner-up finishes over 10 events played. A-State is poised for its eighth appearance in the NCAA Regionals as a team, first since 2024 and fourth under head coach Mike Hagen.