UAB Fall Update

FROM PRESS RELEASE
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB baseball team, which finished tied for fourth in the Conference USA standings last season, wrapped up its 33-day fall camp this past weekend. The Blazers return 19 letterwinners from last season's club and have added 14 newcomers. UAB head coach Brian Shoop said overall he was pleased with the camp and progression of the returning veterans.

"They are all better and more comfortable," Shoop said. "Ryan Keedy is significantly better and has been a model for what we wanted this fall. (Jonathan) Merritt's much better after playing about 35 games up in the Northwood League this past summer and I think (Brint) Hardy's a lot better."

In the team's seven-game Green vs. Gold series this fall, Keedy, a senior first baseman, hit .429 with an RBI and three walks, while Hardy hit .417 with three runs scored, a double and one triple.

The Green club won the series 4-2-1.

Junior catcher/infielder Allen Aubin shined in the series, batting .500 with two RBI, two doubles and a home run, while fellow Green teammate Austin Taylor, a junior outfielder in his first season with the Blazers, hit .667 with an RBI and three walks.

Another newcomer that had a strong series was freshman infielder Nick Crawford, who hit .333 with a pair of walks and runs scored, in addition to playing superior defense.

"Nick Crawford has such energy and passion and he probably led us in fielding percentage this fall. A lot of schools backed off of recruiting Nick because he's so small (5-7, 145 lbs), but we've been the fortunate beneficiaries of that because those schools missed, he's a very good player," Shoop said. "Austin Taylor had a very good offensive fall, but he's going to need to defend better."





The Blazers not only showed improvements at the plate this fall, but also on the mound. Shoop said he was pleased with the progress of the staff and believes he has some first-year arms that will be able to contribute in the upcoming 2008 season.

"Kyle Roberson had a very good fall and it's important that he carries that over to the spring," Shoop said. "Mitch (Kloskowski) was super in the fall as well. Our veterans were almost a man better than a year ago and that's the natural progression you hope for."

Roberson struck out three in three innings and allowed just one run in his fall series start, while his counterpart, Kloskowski, also struck out three and allowed one run in three innings in earning a tie.

Senior right-hander Brandon Flaherty allowed no runs and struck out five batters in his start, while fellow senior Brandon Wallace nearly mirrored that performance, striking out five in allowing just one run in his three innings.

Two new arms Shoop was impressed with during fall camp were those of junior transfers Beau Pender and Johnny Volk. Pender, who is coming back from injury, saw limited action in the Green vs. Gold series, while Volk pitched three innings, struck out two and issued no walks.

"Pender is a legitimate Conference USA weekend guy so we need him to come back healthy for us," Shoop said. "Volk throws a lot of strikes and has an unorthodox delivery which makes him effective and he is a very competitive kid."

The Blazers will begin winter training on Feb. 1, 2008.

Green Wave 2008 Schedule

The Tulane Green Wave have put out their 2008 schedule. They will play 36 home games at newly renovated Turchin Stadium. They will open the season against the University of Illinois-Chicago who competed in the NCAA Tournament in 2007. They will also face NCAA tournament participants East Carolina, Louisiana-Lafayette, Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans, Pepperdine, Southern Miss, and TCU. They will also square off against to College World Series teams in UC-Irvine and Rice. The Green Wave will participate in one of the elite tournaments this year when they head up to the Metrodome to take part in the Dairy Queen Classic with Minnesota, Pepperdine, and TCU. The Green Wave will welcome conference opponents Marshall, Southern Miss, UCF, and Rice to Turchin Stadium. They will head to conference opponents UAB, Houston, Memphis, and East Carolina. The Green Wave will also host the 2008 Conference USA championships from May 21-25. The full schedule is available in PDF format here.

Q&A with USM's Corky Palmer

HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss baseball coach Corky Palmer heads into his 10th season at the helm with expectations as high as ever for the Golden Eagles. Palmer and his staff have been putting the team, including 11 signees, through its paces this fall at revamped Taylor Park.

Q: Five straight NCAA Tournament appearances, but folks are waiting to see the program take the next step. Could this be the season?

A: "I would say 50 percent are happy with what we've done in five years and are proud. The other 50 are ready to go that next step, but no moreso than the staff and the players.

"The kids talk about it, and we need to push forward. There's a lot of expectations."

Complete story

Fall Update for October 10th

Many different college baseball teams are in the midst of their fall ball schedule. We have provided links to each school's recap for games that took place on October 10th.

East Carolina

Devin Harris hit two homers and went 3-3 while pitcher Seth Maness pitched five shutout innings to lead the Purple team to an 8-0 victory in Game 1 of the Fall World Series.

North Carolina

Dustin Ackley drove in two runs and Garrett Davis pitched five innings while allowing only three hits as the Sox Slayers knocked off the Carolina Blue Sox to even the intrasquad scrimmage at a game a piece.

Michigan State

Kyle Hortt scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Justin Potes to lead the White team to a 1-0 victory in Game 1 of the Fall World Series.

Southern Miss pitching ahead of hitting

Two weeks into the Southern Miss fall baseball practice, the pitching is ahead of the hitting.

"No question about it," Golden Eagle coach Corky Palmer said.

That's because of a couple of factors. One, most of last season's top pitchers are returning, plus a couple of newcomers have looked good in the past two weeks.

And two, a couple of last season's top hitters who are back are hurt.

"I'm real impressed with Josh Billeaud," Palmer said about the 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-hander from LSU-Eunice Community College. "We knew he threw hard, but didn't know he had such a good curve and changeup. He will help us."

Complete story

More 2008 Schedules

The College Baseball Blog has come across some more 2008 Baseball Schedules. The schedules are linked below.

Dayton
East Carolina
Ohio
Columbia
Miami (OH)
Hawaii-Hilo

Fall Practice Underway at UCF

FROM PRESS RELEASE
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Just over four months after UCF's 2007 season came to a close, the Knights officially began preparing for 2008 when fall camp opened at Jay Bergman Field Monday. The Black and Gold was greeted with windy conditions and a little bit of rain, as the Knights are hoping to have a few questions answered in the upcoming weeks.

"The weather was a little cooler than it was in the month of September, and the players were anxious to get on the field and start playing baseball," said head coach Jay Bergman, who is starting his 26th season at the helm of the program. "They've been spending a lot of time lifting weights and doing some four-on-one stuff, but now we can get on the field as a team.

"The general attitude of the players has been very good all fall, and it was good the second half of last season. Our players have matured and are understanding the level of competition we are playing in. They are working hard to improve their skills so they will be able to compete at the Conference USA level.

"By the end of the month, I hope that we will have established ourselves defensively, and at least have found out that we have five, maybe six starting pitchers. Offensively we want to be able to move the runners and find out who is going to hit with runners in scoring position. So I think that is what we are looking for at the end of fall practice. If we can accomplish those things, then this fall will be very beneficial."

Bergman's squad went 27-32 in 2007 and 7-17 in its second season in C-USA. The Knights went 1-2 in the C-USA Championship, eliminating Houston May 24 in what was the first 1-0 win in league tournament history. For 2008, UCF returns all eight of its defensive starters, its top three starting pitchers and its closer. However, the Black and Gold lost its designated hitter (senior Matt Horwath - .336 BA) and two key setup men (senior Brian Brooks - UCF's career record-holder in relief appearances with 82, senior Derek Abriola - ranks fifth in relief appearances with 62).

On Monday, UCF was working hard at moving runners from second base with less than two outs and did not seem to be having difficulties sending the ball to right field. Sophomore third baseman Chris Duffy, meanwhile, discovered a groove in batting practice, placing numerous line drives into the outfield grass.

In a short live-game session, the coaching staff got a look at LSU transfer Robert Lara behind the plate, and he immediately showed off his defensive tactics by backing up a wild throw to first base to keep the runner from going to second. The staff also got its first glimpse of junior-college transfer Colin Arnold, as the 47th-round MLB draft pick saw time in left field.

Team two completed their inning at the dish when senior catcher/first baseman Tim Russell drove in junior outfielder Chadd Hartman from second base on a single down the right-field line. With team one at the plate, junior first baseman Kiko Vazquez, senior second baseman Dwayne Bailey and junior shortstop Eric Kallstrom all ripped line drives to lead-off the inning. And Duffy sent a hard shot to the gap in right-center that would have been a double if the wind did not hold it up long enough for the outfield to get to it. On the bases, senior right fielder Ryan Richardson received a lot of praise for his work in breaking up a double play with a hard slide into second base. UCF coaches Craig Cozart and Bryan Peters did the pitching for the Knights.

UCF's fall camp is scheduled to come to a close in early November.

For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.

Tulane finishes Week 1 of Fall Ball

The Tulane baseball program finished their first week of practice with an intrasquad scrimmage. The team played a seven inning game which ended 1-1. Head Coach Rick Jones called for one more at bat with Marc Robert stepping to the plate. He promptly put the first pitch over the wall in left for Team Green. A full recap of the scrimmage is available here.

Rice Owls Release their Schedule for '08!

Rice opens the '08 campaign on the road against the Dirt Bags of Long Beach State. Then they come home to the Minute Maid Park College Classic with teams as Texas, ou, and Texas Tech.

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
02/22/08	at Long Beach State	Long Beach, Calif.	8:30 p.m. CT
02/23/08	at Long Beach State	Long Beach, Calif.	4:00 p.m. CT
02/24/08	at Long Beach State	Long Beach, Calif.	3:00 p.m. CT
02/26/08	vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi	Reckling Park	4:00 p.m. CT
02/27/08	vs. Houston	Reckling Park	4:00 p.m. CT
Minute Maid Park College Classic
02/29/08	Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech	Minute Maid Park	TBA
03/01/08	Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech	Minute Maid Park	TBA
03/02/08	Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech	Minute Maid Park	TBA
03/04/08	at Sam Houston State	Huntsville	6:30 p.m. CT
03/05/08	at Dallas Baptist	Dr Pepper Ballpark - Frisco	6:00 p.m. CT
Rice Classic
03/07/08	vs. Michigan State	Reckling Park	4:30 p.m. CT
03/08/08	vs. UC Irvine	Reckling Park	1:00 p.m. CT
03/09/08	vs. Creighton	Reckling Park	2:30 p.m. CT
03/11/08	vs. Texas	Reckling Park	6:30 p.m. CT
03/12/08	at Texas A&M Corpus Christi	Whatburger/Hooks Field - Corpus Christi	7:00 p.m. CT
03/14/08	vs. Winthrop	Reckling Park	6:30 p.m. CT
03/15/08	vs. Winthrop	Reckling Park	2:00 p.m. CT
03/16/08	vs. Winthrop	Reckling Park	1:00 p.m. CT
03/17/08	vs. Winthrop	Reckling Park	6:30 p.m. CT

Rice Owls

Southern Miss expanding stadium

The Southern Miss Department of Athletics has announced plans to give fans the opportunity to purchase chairback seating in an expansion plan that calls for the construction of a 580-seat grandstand down the third-base line at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.

Sales of the seats will begin on Sept. 17.

"We felt that with our demand increasing each season for seats that this project allows more fans an opportunity to see Golden Eagle baseball," Southern Miss coach Corky Palmer said.

With a purchase, that person will have their name placed on the seat for a minimum of 10 years or as long as that person is a season ticket holder, whichever is longer. The cost of the seat is $400, which is a one-time fee.

Complete story

Nashville Regional Preview

Vanderbilt will be hosting for the first time in their history. They will be joined by Michigan, Memphis, and Austin Peay.

Vanderbilt

The Vanderbilt Commodores (51-11) are the top seed in the entire of the country as they are led by David Price and Pedro Alvarez. Price is expected to be the top pick in the entire draft in a few weeks. Price has an outstanding 11-0 record with a solid ERA of 2.71. He will look to offensive standout Pedro Alvarez who leads the hitters with a .397 average including 17 homers. They open the tournament against Austin Peay on Friday at 7 pm CST.

Vandy Game Notes

Michigan

The Michigan Wolverines (39-16) enter the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. They are led by Nate Recknagel who is hitting .360 on the season. He will look to starting pitcher Mike Wilson (7-0, 3.00 ERA) to hold the offenses down this weekend. Michigan opens the tournament up against Memphis at 2 pm CST on Friday.

Michigan Tourney Notes

Memphis

The Memphis Tigers (36-25) received an at-large berth out of Conference USA. Michael Murray is the top hitter for the Tigers with a batting average of .377. Bill Moss leads the team with 14 homers on the season. The pitching staff Ben Grisham who is only 4-3 with a 5.68 ERA. They open the tournament against Michigan at 2 pm CST on Friday.

Memphis Tourney Notes

Austin Peay

The Governors (39-20) enter the weekend with an automatic bid after winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. They are led by senior pitcher Shawn Kelley who is 11-3 with a 2.52 ERA including eight complete games on the season. The biggest offensive threat is Matt Smith who is hitting .320 on the year. They open the tournament against Vanderbilt at 7 pm CST.

Austin Peay Tourney Notes

The CBB predicts that Vanderbilt will win the Regional without losing a game.

Oxford Regional Preview

The Oxford Regional will be held at the University of Mississippi's Swayze Field, It is the fourth straight year Ole Miss has hosted an NCAA Regional. The field includes the host Rebels, out of the Southeastern Conference; the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, out of Conference USA; the Troy Trojans, out of the Sun Belt Conference; and the Sam Houston State Bearkats, out of the Southland Conference.

OLE MISS
No. 1 seed Ole Miss enters the 2007 NCAA Tournament after advancing to the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, losing two games to Vanderbilt. The Rebels
finished third in the SEC Western Division during the regular season, finishing behind Arkansas and Mississippi State.

The Rebels are hitting .304 with 98 doubles, 17 triples and 48 home runs. The pitching staff has a 3.51 ERA in 543 innings pitched with 522 strikeouts, 216 walks and opponents are hitting .237 against them.

Ole Miss is led by All-SEC pitchers Will Kline and Lance Lynn, two of the best in conference as well as in the nation. Kline is 6-2 with a 3.68 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 110 innings pitched, while Lynn is 7-4 with a 2.77 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 107.1 innings pitched.

The Rebels are led offensively by junior infielder Justin Henry, who is hitting .378 with 14 doubles, eight triples, 21 stolen bases and 35 RBIs. Redshirt freshman infielder Zach Miller is hitting .370 with seven doubles, two triples, three home runs and 26 RBIs. Freshman outfielder Jordan Henry is hitting .365. with four doubles, two triples, one home run, 12 stolen bases and 14 RBIs. Redshirt freshman Cody Overbeck hit 15 doubles, a team-leading 13 home runs and 52 RBIs.

SOUTHERN MISS
No. 2 seed Southern Miss enters the tournament after defeating UAB, 9-5, in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament, before dropping a 2-1 game in 10 innings to East Carolina and then a 6-2 loss to Tulane to end its tournament run. The Golden Eagles finished 14-10 in Conference USA, won 10-straight to end the regular season and has won 11-of-13, 13-of-15 and 21 of their last 30 games.

Junior first baseman Trey Sutton leads the Golden Eagles, hitting .368 with 18 doubles, three triples, eight home runs, 35 walks, 35 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. He hurt his left knee against UAB in the first game of the tournament and is doubtful for the NCAA Tournament. Sophomore shortstop Brian Dozier is hitting .335 with 14 doubles, three home runs, 19 walks and 25 RBIs. Senior outfielder Jody Blount is hitting .326 with eight doubles, two triples, six home runs, 26 walks and 33 RBIs. Redshirt junior designated hitter Trey Cuevas leads the team in home runs with 10, and sophomore outfielder Michael Ewing leads the team in walks (42) and RBIs (46).

Senior right-hander Ryan Belanger has a 7-4 record with a 2.63 ERA in 99.1 innings pitched. He has struck out 82, walked 18 and opponents are hitting .232 against him. Junior right-hander Barry Bowden is 7-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 92.1 innings pitched. He has struck out 83, walked 26 and opponents are hitting .242 against him. Junior David Clark is 8-5 with a 4.69 ERA in 88.1 innings pitched. He has struck out 69, walked 33 and opponents are hitting .239 against him.

TROY
No. 3 seed Troy enters the NCAA Tournament after posting a 1-2 record in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. The Trojans defeated Louisiana-Monroe, 7-0, in game one, before dropping two straight to Louisiana-Lafayette, 9-7, and South Alabama, 4-1. Troy has won five of its last 10 games, seven of 15 and 11 of its last 20 games. The Trojans posted a 16-14 record in Sun Belt Conference games and finished in a tie for second place with Middle Tennessee State and New Orleans.

Sophomore infielder Trevor Trye is hitting .381 with six doubles, four home runs, 17 walks and 22 RBIs to lead the Trojans. Senior outfielder Kevin Weidlich is hitting .362 with 13 doubles, 11 home runs, 19 walks and 55 RBIs. Senior infielder Clint Robinson is hitting .359 with 18 doubles, 17 home runs, 30 walks and 69 RBIs. Senior infielder Edgar Ramirez is hitting .338 with 16 doubles, 11 home runs and 44 RBIs.

Senior right-hander Clegg Snipes is 6-5 with a 5.18 ERA in 97.1 innings pitched, striking out 84, walking 22 and opponents are hitting .277 against him. Senior left-hander Joe Hallahan is 5-6 with a 5.66 ERA in 89.0 innings pitched, striking out 60, walking 25 and opponents are hitting .297 against him. Senior relief pitcher Josh Dew is 7-2 with a 2.56 ERA in 63.1 innings, striking out 96, walking 25 and opponents are hitting .214 against him.

SAM HOUSTON STATE
No. 4 seed Sam Houston State won the Southland Conference Tournament last weekend and have won four in a row, five of six and 11 of 14 games. The Bearkats registered an 18-12 mark in the Southland Conference, finishing in third place in the west division.

Junior outfielder Keith Stein leads the team with a .386 batting average, with six doubles, four triples and 36 RBIs. Junior outfielder Bobby Verbick is hitting .373 with a team-leading 22 doubles, five triples, 13 home runs and 75 RBIs. Senior infielder Karl Krailo is hitting .357 with 15 doubles, one triple, five home runs and 46 RBIs.

Sophomore right-hander Jacob Howard has posted an 11-5 record this season in 105 innings pitched. He has struck out 74 batters, walked 28 and opponents are hitting .279 against him. Senior left-hander Jesse Marshall is 8-3 with a 3.58 ERA in 98 innings pitched. He has struck out 51, walked 34 and opponents are hitting .273 against him.

Oxford Regional capsules

Watch/Listen to Oxford Regional games

Conference USA baseball notebook

Four Conference USA teams will begin play in NCAA Regionals on Friday. Memphis will end a 13-year NCAA drought when it faces Michigan in the Nashville Regional. Rice will be playing in its 13th straight NCAA Championship, hosting Prairie View. Southern Miss is in the field for the fifth year in a row and will take on Troy in the Oxford Regional. East Carolina will make its eighth appearance in nine years when it makes the short drive to Chapel Hill.

Complete notebook

C-USA lands four in NCAA Tournament

Conference USA has received four bids to the 2007 NCAA Baseball Championship, as announced by the Division I baseball committee on Monday. Rice will host the Houston Regional as the No. 2 national seed, while East Carolina will be the No. 2 seed in Chapel Hill, N.C., Southern Miss will be the No. 2 seed in Oxford, Miss. and Memphis will travel up the road to Nashville, Tenn. where it will compete as the No. 3 seed. Only the ACC (7), Big 12 (6) and SEC (5) had more selections than C-USA.

Rice (49-12) owns the fourth-best record in college baseball and is the No.2 ranked team in the latest polls. The Owls won the regular season Conference USA title with a 22-2 league record for the second straight year and followed that up by winning the C-USA Tournament in Greenville, N.C. with a 16-8 victory over host East Carolina on Sunday. Rice will be hosting a regional for the sixth time in seven years as it makes its 13th consecutive NCAA appearance. For the second straight year, the Owls will open regional play against SWAC champion Prairie View A&M (34-23) in its first game on Friday. Rice won the only regular season meeting between the teams, 5-4 on April 3. The Owls will then play one of two former Southwest Conference rivals in No. 2 seed TCU (46-12), Mountain West Conference Champions, or No. 3 seed Baylor (34-25), an at-large choice from the Big 12, in the next round.

East Carolina (39-21) returns to the NCAA Championship for the eighth time in nine seasons as the C-USA tournament runner-up heads down the road to Chapel Hill, N.C. The Pirates will play Western Carolina (40-18), an at-large choice from the Southern Conference, in the Chapel Hill regional. ECU defeated WCU, 3-2 on March 4 in Greenville. Host North Carolina (48-12), the number three national seed, will play Atlantic Sun Conference tournament champion Jacksonville (34-26), in the other Friday game in that regional.

Southern Miss (38-21) will be playing in the NCAA Championship for the fifth consecutive season. The second-seeded Golden Eagles are matched up with third-seeded Troy (34-25) for the second year in a row. Southern Miss dropped their only regular season meeting with the Trojans, falling 3-2 on February 25 in the Wiregrass Classic in Dothan, Ala. The two teams played a three-game series in Hattiesburg last year, which Southern Miss swept, but Troy defeated the Golden Eagles twice in the Tuscaloosa Regional to eliminate USM. Mississippi (37-23) will play Sam Houston State (38-22), Southland Conference tournament champions, in the other first-day game.

Memphis (36-24) will be making its first NCAA appearance since 1994 and the fifth in school history. Two years after finishing 13-42, the senior-led Tigers will be the No. 3 seed at the Nashville Regional and will face Big Ten Conference regular season champion Michigan (39-16), the No. 2 seed, in its first game. Number one overall national seed Vanderbilt (51-11), regular season and tournament champions of the Southeastern Conference, will square off against Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champion Austin Peay (39-20) in its first day game.

Rice Tournament Central
East Carolina Tournament Central
Southern Miss Tournament Central
Memphis Tournament Central

C-USA Tournament: Saturday recap

The stage has been set for the championship game in the 2007 Conference USA Baseball Tournament and it’s just as expected – No. 1 vs. No. 2. It’s how they got there that was a surprise.

Rice, ranked No. 2 nationally, No. 1 in RPI and expected to get the top national seed when pairings are announced, saw its 20-game winning streak snapped in Saturday’s first game, falling to Memphis 2-1.

The Owls responded by scoring 20 runs on 20 hits in the nightcap, eliminating Memphis 20-9. The 29 combined runs tied a tournament record for most runs in a game.

The Tigers fell to 36-25 and await their postseason fate, which will be announced Monday.

The homestanding Pirates clinched their spot in between those two games, knocking off Tulane (34-26) behind the efforts of Harrison Eldridge and Stephen Batts, by a 9-4 score.

The two teams meet today for the championship at 1 p.m. EDT. The game will be replayed later in the day on CSTV.

C-USA Game 10: Tulane 6, Southern Miss 2

Tulane broke open a one-run game in the sixth inning by adding three to its tally and tacked on another in the seventh to pull away from Southern Miss and grab a 6-2 victory in game ten of the 2007 C-USA Baseball Championship at Clark-LeClair Stadium on the campus of East Carolina University. The victory was Tulane head coach Rick Jones' 600th at the helm of the Green Wave and propelled his team into a Saturday semifinal game against No. 2 East Carolina at 12:30 p.m. EDT.

Tulane (34-25) grabbed the early lead on an Anthony Scelfo solo home run to right field in the bottom of the first. The Wave then went up 2-0 when Aja Barto hit his sixth home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth.

Southern Miss (38-21) cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the sixth inning after Michael Ewing crushed his seventh home run over the right field fence. The ball not only cleared the outfield wall, but the fence separating the baseball stadium from the football practice fields.

In the sixth, Tulane used two hits to score three runs and pull away from the Golden Eagles.

Game story

C-USA Game 9: Memphis 12, UCF 6

In the first game of "Elimination Friday" in the Conference USA baseball tournament, Memphis left no doubt as to who would be moving on and who would be heading home. The Tigers scored five runs in the first and four in the second and cruised to a 12-6 victory over Central Florida. Ben Grisham went the distance for Memphis, allowing only four earned runs and striking out five.

Joey Lieberman highlighted the first-inning UM attack, smacking a three-run shot over left field that crossed the street behind the stadium before stopping. Three Golden Knight errors aided Memphis' efforts in the second inning. A pair of Tiger errors and a Dwayne Bailey triple helped UCF get on the board in the fourth, cutting the Memphis lead to 9-3.

Memphis will face Rice in a 9 a.m. EDT contest on Saturday. Central Florida finishes its season at 27-32.

C-USA Game 8: ECU 2, Southern Miss 1 (10)

Harrison Eldridge stole home (video link) in the bottom of the 10th inning to give East Carolina another dramatic victory in game eight of the 2007 C-USA Baseball Championship at Clark-LeClair Stadium on the campus of East Carolina University. After the Pirates loaded the bases in the 10th, Eldridge broke for home on 1-0 pitch from Tyler Conn. Stephen Batts squared to bunt, but the pitch got away from the catcher and Eldridge crossed home plate for the deciding score.

Starting pitchers Barry Bowden and Dustin Sasser were both impressive though the first five scoreless innings. Sasser gave up the game's first run in the bottom of the sixth inning on a lead-off solo home run by Jody Blount.

Sasser was then pulled from the game and finished with four strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work.

Bailey Daniels entered the game for Sasser and kept the game close with 1.2 scoreless innings on one hit to keep the Pirates within striking distance.

Complete story here.

C-USA Game 7: Rice 7, Memphis 5

Fueled by an outstanding relief performance from Matt Langwell, Rice defeated Memphis, 7-5, in game seven of the 2007 C-USA Baseball Championship at Clark-LeClair Stadium on the campus of East Carolina University. The win moves the Owls into Saturday's semifinals, while the Tigers move to Friday afternoon's 3 p.m. game to face UCF. The victory was the 20th in a row for Rice, which sets a new Conference USA record.

Conference USA Pitcher of the Year Ryne Tacker had his roughest outing of the season, allowing five earned runs and four hits before being pulled in the first inning. Matt Langwell stepped in to shut the door on Memphis, throwing 7.1 innings of shutout ball. He struck out nine and walked just one to improve to 6-1 on the season.

Cole St.Clair secured the victory with a one-two-three ninth inning to pick up his sixth save in 11 appearances.

Complete story here.

C-USA Game 6: Tulane 13, UAB 5

On Thursday night, Tulane found itself caught in a pitcher's battle. The Green Wave scattered eight hits and managed only two runs in their loss to East Carolina.

Things didn't stay that way during their second-round game in the Conference USA Tournament. Tulane smacked 21 hits and topped its Wednesday total in three different innings as the Green Wave eliminated UAB 13-5.

Anthony Scelfo led the way for Tulane, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and one RBI. Four other Green Wave players had three hits on the day and four had multiple RBIs.

Tulane advances to a 6:30 p.m. EDT game on Friday against the loser of the East Carolina-Southern Miss game. UAB finished its season with a 25-34 mark under first-year coach Brian Shoop.