Conference USA Baseball Tourney Commences Wednesday

CUSA Fans Director of Content Thomas "Bubba" Rosenbaum brings us a preview of the C-USA baseball tournament being hosted by the East Carolina Pirates.

Dates: Wednesday, May 23 - Sunday, May 27

Location: Greenville, NC; Clark-LeClair Stadium (3,000)

Times: SEE BRACKETS (below)

TV: CSTV (will provide a tape-delayed telecast of Sunday’s Championship game at 9pm EST)

After rolling through Conference USA regular season play with only two losses for a second consecutive year, No. 1 Rice will look to capture a second straight league tournament title.

The CUSA Baseball Championship gets underway on Wednesday morning at East Carolina University’s Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville, NC.

East Carolina's Clark-LeClair Stadium will play host to the Conference USA Baseball Championship this week.  The tournament begins on Wednesday, May 23 and will conclude on Sunday, May 27.

The Owls (45-11, 22-2), who are the No. 1 seed, will play eighth-seeded UCF (26-30, 7-17) at 12:30 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday in the second game of the tourney’s opening day action. The Owls swept UCF in Houston back in late April—winning 10-1, 4-2, and 8-0. Rice carries the nation’s longest winning streak—currently 18 games—into its match-up with the Golden Knights. Jay Bergman’s club, which missed last year’s tourney at Rice, snuck into this season’s event by taking 2-of-3 from Marshall on the final weekend of the regular season. Conference USA Player of the Year Joe Savery leads Rice. The Owls’ first baseman leads the team in batting average (.356) while also posting a stellar 8-1 record and 2.41 ERA on the mound. Fellow pitchers Ryne Tacker (CUSA Pitcher of the Year), Ryan Berry (CUSA Freshman of the Year) and Cole St. Clair give Rice one of most talented staffs in the nation. UCF has been mashing the baseball throughout the month of May. The Golden Knights have reached double figures in hits in 13 of their last 15 games. They have only hit 24 home runs on the year, but 11 of those have been in May. Freshman Chris Duffy (3B) and sophomore Kiko Vasquez (1B) have led the surge. Duffy has homered in seven of his last 14 contests while Vasquez is batting .366 with nine home runs and 54 RBI. However, UCF has not been able to capitalize due to poor pitching.

The first game of the tournament will match fourth-seeded Houston (28-26, 12-12) against the fifth-seeded Memphis Tigers (33-23, 12-12). UH took 2-of-3 at UM back on May 11-13. CUSA Newcomer of the Year Jimmy Cesario leads the Cougars. Cesario, who is a sophomore, is the team’s offensive leader in several categories. He sets the pace for batting average (.358), on-base percentage (.425), and doubles (15) while also recording the school’s fifth longest hitting streak (20 games) from March 18 to April 29. Offensively, the Tigers are a very potent club. Their line-up features seniors Joey Lieberman and Bill Moss, who are tied for the CUSA lead in home runs with 12. It also contains the league’s leading hitter, Michael Murray. The Tigers’ senior is hitting .391 and leads the team with 19 doubles. Senior first baseman Adam Amar started slowly, but concluded the season with a .346 mark that earned him second-team All-CUSA honors. The game will feature two of the conference’s best base stealers in Memphis’ K.K. Chalmers and UH’s Ryan Lormand. Chalmers has swiped a league-best 30 bases while Lormand ranks third with 23 steals.

Game one of the evening session will see Corky Palmer’s red-hot Southern Miss squad face off against sixth seed UAB. The Blazers lost two of three to the Golden Eagles in Hattiesburg back on April 20-22. The third-seeded Golden Eagles (37-19, 14-10) have won ten straight and have taken major strides toward assuring themselves of a NCAA bid. Last weekend, USM collected an impressive road sweep at Houston. The Golden Eagles received three complete games from their starters while holding the Cougars to only two runs in the series. First baseman Trey Sutton leads USM’s offensive attack. The junior first baseman has the most hits (87) in CUSA and the second best batting average (.370). Southern Miss also possesses a quality closer in Patrick Ezzell, who has a miniscule 1.08 ERA and eight saves in 25 innings of work. The Blazers (25-31, 12-12) are also playing well as they enter the tournament, as they’ve won seven of their last nine league games. First-year head coach Brian Shoop guided UAB to its best conference finish since 1998. Offensively, the Blazers are very capable. They have scored 10 or more runs on 15 different occasions this season. Center fielder J.R. Bond is hitting .355 and leads a line-up that features six players with an average of .300 or more.

The nightcap will see second seed and host East Carolina tangle with struggling Tulane. The Pirates (36-20, 14-9), who dropped three of four games last week, lost two of three to the Green Wave in New Orleans back in the second weekend of conference action. The Green Wave (32-24, 9-15) won 30 games for a seventh straight year, but finishing a shocking seventh in the CUSA standings. It was the first time the program has finished below .500 in 12 years of CUSA play. Rick Jones’ club has lost 13 of its last 17 games and will be looking to collect the automatic bid to the tournament and extend Tulane’s consecutive NCAA appearance streak to 10. Their recent issues have largely been a result of their inability to provide their pitchers with enough run support. Saturday starter Shooter Hunt has been TU’s most reliable pitching option lately. The sophomore lefty, who has fanned 95 batters (2 nd in CUSA), will start versus the Pirates. Righty Sean Morgan (7-4, 4.03 ERA) leads the league with 116 strikeouts. ECU will counter with second-team All-CUSA righty T.J. Hose. Sophomore first baseman Stephen Batts, who is batting .314 with 47 RBI (fifth in CUSA), carries a 22-game hitting streak into Wednesday night’s game. Clean-up hitter Ryan Tousley and designated hitter Kyle Roller are tied for the team-lead in home runs with 10.

CONFERENCE USA BASEBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET & TIMES (ALL TIMES EST)

C-USA Tournament - WEDNESDAY, MAY 23

• Game 1: No. 4 Houston vs. No. 5 Memphis (9:00 a.m.)
• Game 2: No. 1 Rice vs. No. 8 UCF (12:30 p.m.)
• Game 3: No. 3 Southern Miss vs. No. 6 UAB (4:00 p.m.)
• Game 4: No. 2 East Carolina vs. No. 7 Tulane (7:30 p.m.)

C-USA Tournament - THURSDAY, MAY 24

• Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (9:00 p.m.)
• Game 6: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 (12:30 p.m.)
• Game 7: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (4:00 p.m.)
• Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 (7:30 p.m.)

C-USA Tournament - FRIDAY, MAY 25

• Game 9: Loser Game 7 vs. Winner Game 5 (3:00 p.m.)
• Game 10: Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 8 (6:30 p.m.)

C-USA Tournament - SATURDAY, MAY 26

• Game 11: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9 (9:00 p.m.)
• Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10 (12:30 p.m.)
• Game 13: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9 (4:00 p.m.) (IF NECESSARY)
• Game 14: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10 (7:30 p.m.) (IF NECESSARY)

C-USA Tournament - SUNDAY, MAY 27

• Championship Game: Winner Game 11/13 vs. Winner Game 12/14 (1:00 p.m.)