C-USA Baseball Tournament Pairings Set
May 18, 2003 | Baseball
CHICAGO -- Southern Miss posted a 15-3 victory at Houston on Saturday to capture its first-ever regular season Conference USA title. The No. 17-ranked Golden Eagles will be the No. 1 seed at the 2003 Conference USA Tournament, which begins Wednesday in New Orleans. Southern Miss finished with a 23-7 record in C-USA play, establishing a new conference record for wins in league play. At 41-14 overall, USM needs just one more victory to tie the school record of 42 wins, set in 1990 and matched in 1991. Southern Miss is the fourth school to win the regular season title in the league's first eight seasons, joining Houston (4), Tulane (2) and South Florida.
The Golden Eagles will face Charlotte (21-26) in the second game of the tournament on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. EDT. The 49ers (11-15 in C-USA) earned the final spot in the conference tournament by virtue of having a higher winning percentage in league play than UAB (12-17). Southern Miss is the top hitting team in Conference USA, as evidenced by their 19 and 15 run outputs in a pair of wins at Houston this past weekend. The Golden Eagles feature outfielders Jeff Cook and Clint King, the first C-USA teammates to both hit 20 home runs in a season since 1999. Charlotte will counter with junior RHP Zachary Treadway, who won a team-best eight games this season. USM won two of three games when the teams met in mid-April in Hattiesburg.
The tournament will get underway at 9:00 a.m. CDT on Wednesday when No. 4 seed Houston takes on No. 5 seed East Carolina in a rematch of the championship game of last year's tournament, a game won by ECU. Houston is led by junior RHP Brad Sullivan, a semifinalist for the Smith Award and the school's all-time strikeout leader. East Carolina's attack is paced by a pair of strong-hitting sophomores in shortstop Darryl Lawhorn and first baseman Ryan Norwood. The Pirates won two-of-three games from the Cougars in Houston during the opening weekend of conference play in March.
After facing each other three times this weekend in Fort Worth, No. 7 seed Louisville and No. 2 seed TCU will go at it again at 4:00 p.m. CDT on Wednesday. TCU won twice this weekend, including setting school and conference records for runs (30) and hits (35) in a game on Friday night. Louisville won the series opener and dropped a one-run decision on Saturday sandwiched around that game. The Horned Frogs feature one of the top pitchers in Conference USA in junior RHP Clayton Jerome. The Cardinals counter with one of the league's best freshman in second baseman Adam Haley.
The final opening day game will feature the host Tulane Green Wave and the South Florida Bulls, beginning at 7:30 p.m. CDT. Tulane's explosive offensive attack is led by junior 1B Michael Aubrey, a .430 hitter who is one of five finalists for the Golden Spikes Award. Aubrey and the rest of the Green Wave batters will have to contend with USF righthander David Austen, who posted a league-high 10 wins this season. Tulane and South Florida did not meet in the regular season.
The championship game of the tournament on Sunday, May 25 will be televised by affiliates of the Conference USA Television Network and CSTV: College Sports Television. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
