ECU To Play Houston In C-USA Opener
May 18, 2008 | Baseball
May 18, 2008
IRVING, Texas - After winning the regular season Conference USA championship in for the third consecutive season, top-ranked Rice will be the No.1 seed at the 2008 Entergy Conference USA Baseball Championship, which begins Wednesday at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium in New Orleans. The Owls finished with a 21-3 record in C-USA play, winning 17 of their final 18 league contests. At 42-11 overall, Rice own one of the best records in Division I baseball and will enter the tournament having won 22 of its last 23 games overall. The Owls have captured 13 consecutive regular season conference championships, dating back to the final year of the Southwest Conference.
The Owls will face UAB (24-32) in the second game of the tournament on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. CDT. The Blazers (7-17 in C-USA) punched their ticket to the tournament with a shutout victory on Friday over Southern Miss. Rice features another strong pitching staff led by sophomore RHP Ryan Berry (7-3, 2.87 ERA, 76 K's) and senior RHP Chris Kelley (5-1, 3.32 ERA, 57 Ks) in the starting rotation, while closer Cole St.Clair (8-2, 2.98 ERA, 5 saves) is rounding back into form in the bullpen after opening the season as a starter. Senior IB Ryan Keedy is UAB's top hitter, pacing the club in average (.410) and setting a school-record for doubles with 26. Rice swept the three-game series between the teams in Houston in April.
The championship will get underway at 9:00 a.m. EDT on Wednesday when No. 5 seed East Carolina (39-17, 13-11) takes on No. 4 seed Houston (34-21, 14-10). The Pirates and Cougars met during the opening weekend of conference play, with UH taking two-of-three in Greenville. ECU features senior C Corey Kemp (.358, 15 HR, 66 RBI), a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award, and freshman pitching sensation Seth Maness (9-1, 2.79 ERA, 77 K's). The Cougars are led by sophomore RHP Wes Musick (8-4, 4.15 ERA, 72 K's) and junior OF Jake Stewart (.364, 22 2B, 45 RBI). East Carolina and Houston will be meeting in the Conference USA Championship for the sixth time in the last seven years.
Southern Miss earned the No. 2 seed and opens its tourney play against No. 7 seed UCF at 4 p.m. CDT on Wednesday. The Golden Eagles (38-18, 15-9) have the nation's leader in saves in Tyler Conn (C-USA record-tying 16) and senior right-handed starter Barry Bowden (703, 1.63 ERA, 69 Ks) to lead a talented pitching staff. UCF counters with a number of solid hitters, including junior OF Colin Arnold (.320, 17 2B, 37 RBI) and sophomore IF Shane Brown (.353, 6 HR, 45 RBI). Southern Miss won two-of-three games when the teams met in Hattiesburg in late March.
Marshall (26-28-1, 10-13-1) earned the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 seed and tournament host Tulane (36-18-1, 13-9-1) in the final game of the first day at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. Marshall is one of the top hitting clubs in C-USA, led by junior OF Nate Lape (.385, 16 2B, 14 HR, 52 RBI) and freshman DH Victor Gomez (.370, 11 HR, 43 RBI) Tulane is led by junior RHP Shooter Hunt (9-2, 2.10 ERA, league-leading 110 Ks), a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, and junior OF/DH Anthony Scelfo (.327, 11 HR, 46 RBI). These teams met in early April, splitting the series evenly with a win, a loss and a tie each.
The championship game of the tournament on Sunday, May 25 will be televised on a same-day tape delay basis by CBS College Sports. The title game will air on CBS C at 8:30 p.m. CDT. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
