May 19, 2012

Regular Season Final Standings l C-USA Baseball Championship Historical Notes l Championship Central

IRVING, Texas - The East Carolina baseball team will take aim on its first post-season league title since 2002 when it opens play as the No. 6 seed at the 2012 Conference USA Baseball Championships presented by Trustmark, at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss.

The Pirates, who are 17-16 all-time in C-USA post-season action, will open the championships against No. 3 seed Tulane (37-18) on Wednesday, May 23 at 8 p.m. (ET), before playing No. 2 seed UCF (41-14) on Friday at 4 p.m. (ET) and No. 7 UAB (29-27) Saturday at 4 p.m. (ET). ECU will not play on Thursday as that is its designated day off.

Rice (39-15) claimed a share of their sixth C-USA regular-season crown in seven years with a series victory at UCF on the final weekend. For Rice, it marks the 17th consecutive season that the Owls have won a conference championship, dating back to 1995, the final year of the Southwest Conference.

The 2012 Conference USA Championship presented by Trustmark will feature the top eight teams in regular-season league play. Those eight will be split into two four-team pools (or pods), with the winner of each pod playing in a single championship game. Teams are assigned pods based on seed, which are determined by the order of finish in regular-season conference play.

Each team is guaranteed to play three games. Teams in each pod will play all three other teams in its pod. The team with the best composite record in each pod advances to the championship game. Two-way ties in a pod will be broken by head-to-head play. In the case of a three-way tie, the highest seed will advance.

Game times are 12 noon, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the championship game slated for 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The championship game will be nationally-televised by CBS Sports Network.

Pod number one features No.1 seed Rice, No. 4 seed Southern Miss, No. 5 seed Memphis and No. 8 seed Houston. Pod number two includes No. 2 seed UCF, No. 3 seed Tulane, No. 6 seed East Carolina and No. 7 seed UAB.

Makeup of the Pods and Schedule of Play

Pod 1 (Seeds 1, 4 5, and 8)
Rice vs. Southern Miss, Memphis and Houston
Southern Miss vs. Rice, Memphis and Houston
Memphis vs. Rice, Southern Miss and Houston
Houston vs. Rice, Southern Miss and Memphis

Pod 2 (Seeds 2, 3 6, and 7)
UCF vs. Tulane, East Carolina and UAB
Tulane vs. UCF, East Carolina and UAB
East Carolina vs. UCF, Tulane and UAB
UAB vs. UCF, Tulane and East Carolina

Game Schedule

Wednesday, May 23
Game 1 - (5) Memphis vs. (4) Southern Miss at 12 noon
Game 2 - (8) Houston vs. (1) Rice at 4 p.m.
Game 3 - (6) East Carolina vs. (3) Tulane at 8 p.m.

Thursday, May 24
Game 4 - (7) UAB vs. (2) UCF at 12 noon
Game 5 - (8) Houston vs. (4) Southern Miss at 4 p.m.
Game 6 - (5) Memphis vs. (1) Rice at 8 p.m.

Friday, May 25
Game 7 - (7) UAB vs. (3) Tulane at 12 noon
Game 8 - (6) East Carolina vs. (2) UCF at 4 p.m.
Game 9 - (8) Houston vs. (5) Memphis at 8 p.m.

Saturday, May 26
Game 10 - (3) Tulane vs. (2) UCF at 12 noon
Game 11 - (7) UAB vs. (6) East Carolina at 4 p.m.
Game 12 - (4) Southern Miss vs. (1) Rice at 8 p.m.

Sunday, May 27 (televised by CBS Sports Network)
Championship Game at 2 p.m.

All Times Eastern

Each game of the championship from Wednesday through Saturday will be streamed live on ConferenceUSA.com. The championship game of the tournament on Sunday, May 27 will be televised live by CBS Sports Network, beginning at 1 p.m. CDT. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. Regular season champion Rice is the defending tournament champion.

Tickets for the championship are available via Ticketmaster.com or by calling 888-BRAVES4.