CUSA Baseball Championship set to begin in Pearl on Wednesday

After capturing its sixth regular season title in its seven years in the league, Wayne Graham and No. 1 seed Rice will attempt to earn their fifth CUSA Tournament in as many years.

The Owls (39-15, 17-7), who have epitomized consistency over the last two decades under their legendary coach, were pushed to the limit by UCF (41-14, 16-8) before securing another title with a victory over the Knights in the rubber match of the series on the final day of the regular season.

The eight-team event, which begins tomorrow at Trustmark Park, will operate under the same format as last season where all teams are guaranteed three games by playing each member of their respective pod once. However, the 12 games will be spread over four days rather than being packed into three, which allows more leeway for weather delays while also giving each team an off day.

The team with the best record of each pod will earn a spot in Sunday’s championship game. Two-way ties would be broken by head-to-head competition while a three-way tie would allow the highest seed to advance to the title game.

Games will be played at 11 a.m., 3 p.m., and 7 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday through Saturday. The championship game’s first pitch will be at 1 p.m.

Check back with cusa-fans.com for game recaps as the tournament progresses.

The tournament’s pod make-up and game schedule is listed below:

Pod 1: Rice, Southern Miss, Memphis, Houston

Pod 2: UCF, Tulane, ECU, UAB

Wednesday, May 23

Game 1: (5) Memphis vs. (4) Southern Miss 11:00 a.m.

Game 2: (8) Houston vs. (1) Rice 3:00 p.m.

Game 3: (6) East Carolina vs. (3) Tulane 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, May 24

Game 4: (7) UAB vs. (2) UCF 11:00 a.m.

Game 5: (8) Houston vs. (4) Southern Miss 3:00 p.m.

Game 6: (5) Memphis vs. (1) Rice 7:00 p.m.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Game 7: (7) UAB vs. (3) Tulane 11:00 a.m.

Game 8: (6) East Carolina vs. (2) UCF 3:00 p.m.

Game 9: (8) Houston vs. (5) Memphis 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Game 10: (3) Tulane vs. (2) UCF 11:00 a.m.

Game 11: (7) UAB vs. (6) East Carolina 3:00 p.m.

Game 12: (4) Southern Miss vs. (1) Rice 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Game 13: Championship Game: Pod 1 winner vs. Pod 2 winner 1 p.m. (CBS-College Sports)

By Leigh Reese
CUSA-Fans.com Staff Writer