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Conference USA Baseball notches four wins in NCAA Tournament

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Conference USA Baseball didn’t advance any teams to Super Regional play, but Dallas Baptist and Charlotte each made some noise in the postseason.

Charlotte and Dallas Baptist earned the right to represent Conference USA Baseball in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, which began play last weekend. Charlotte was the No. 3 seed in the Clemson Regional while Dallas Baptist was the No. 2 Seed in the Stillwater Regional. Each team made it to the regional championship game, registering some upsets along the way.

The duo each eliminated the No. 1 seed in their respective region, a tremendous accomplishment for the league. You can view the full tournament bracket here.

Dallas Baptist

The Patriots were a darkhorse pick by many to win the Stillwater Regional and they came extremely close to doing so. DBU dropped their opening round game to Washington by a score of 9-5, then battled through the losers bracket.

More: Parker Smith’s journey from hometown kid to Rice Baseball ace

Dallas Baptist eliminated host team and No. 1 Seed Oklahoma State on Saturday, blasting the Cowboys 18-5 in one of the most dominant wins of the entire weekend. They followed that up with a win on Sunday in a rematch against Washington, earning a spot against 4-Seed Oral Roberts in the championship game. ORU edged DBU 6-5, becoming the only 4-Seed to advance to Super Regional play this season.

Charlotte

After suffering a one-sided loss to Tennessee in their first game, Charlotte came back swinging with a decisive 9-2 victory to eliminate Lipscomb in their second game. They then followed that up with a win over 1-seed and host Clemson, sending them home as well, to earn their spot in the regional championship game. In a rematch with Tennesee, Charlotte fell 9-2, ending their season.

What’s Next?

This was the last time Charlotte will don a Conference USA patch on their jerseys. The 49ers leave the conference for the AAC in July. The 2024 conference slate will feature these nine teams: Dallas Baptist, FIU, Jacksonville State, Liberty, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, and WKU. Louisiana Tech will host the 2024 conference tournament.

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DBU, Charlotte represent Conference USA Baseball in NCAA Tournament

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Conference USA Baseball will have two representatives in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, regular season champ DBU and tournament champ Charlotte.

Charlotte was the first team handed a loss in the 2023 Conference USA Baseball Tournament. They were also the first C-USA squad to clinch an NCAA Tournament spot, rallying through the loser’s bracket to claim the conference crown. The 49ers knocked off 1-Seed and tournament favorite Dallas Baptist in the championship game to earn an automatic bid. DBU was selected to the field as an at-large.

Dallas Baptist

In their first year as members of Conference USA, DBU earned a No. Seed in the Stillwater Regional. They’ll open up NCAA Tournament play against 3-Seed Washington. Also in their regional are 1-Seed Oklahoma State and 4-Seed Oral Roberts.

More: Parker Smith’s journey from hometown kid to Rice Baseball ace

This is DBU’s ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and their 12th all-time. Against regional opponents this season, DBU is 4-1. They swept a three-game series against Oral Roberts in March and split a pair of midweek games against Oklahoma State, winning the most recent matchup at home on March 28.

The Stillwater Regional is paired with the Nashville Regional, home of No. 6 National Seed, Vanderbilt.

Charlotte

Charlotte secured automatic entrance to the NCAA Tournament field by virtue of their Conference USA Baseball Tournament championship, their first in program history. However, the 49ers aren’t newcomers to the postseason by any means. This NCAA appearance will be the second in the past three years for the 49ers and the seventh overall. They will be the 3-Seed in the Clemson Regional.

The 49ers have some history with their regional opponents. Their first opponent, 2-Seed Tennessee, was Charlotte’s first-ever NCAA Tournament opponent in 1993. Charlotte met 1-Seed Clemson in their first midweek game in February, falling 9-5. They did not play Tennessee or 4-Seed Lipscomb this season.

The Clemson Regional is paired with the Auburn Regional, home of No. 13 Seed, Vanderbilt.

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Rice Baseball blasted by DBU in Conference USA Tournament Opener

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Rice Baseball fell to Dallas Baptist in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament on Wednesday by a final score of 13-2.

Parker Smith walking off the mound with no outs in the fourth inning was not part of the script Rice baseball was hoping to see in their return to the postseason. The Owls — who hadn’t played in a Conference USA Tournament game since 2019 — had high hopes after watching lower seeds win each of the first two games on Wednesday morning. Those dreams met an abrupt ending.

“It’s not how we drew it up. They set the tone early. We had some opportunities to make some plays and we did not,” head coach Jose Cruz Jr said. “That’s how baseball goes sometimes. Unfortunately, it was here at the conference tournament.”

Dallas Baptist struck for three in the first after a full-count walk and a bunt single that left nobody covering first base put the first two runners on. Back-to-back RBI singles spotted the No. 1 seed Patriots to a 3-0 lead. Rice clawed back with a run in the second and the third innings, punctuated by a booming long ball from Connor Walsh to get the Owls back within one.

More: Parker Smith’s journey from hometown kid to Rice Baseball ace

From there, the route was on. Dallas Baptist scored three in the third and four in the fourth, the latter including a three-run home run that drove Smith from the game. It was at that point Rice opted to save their higher-leverage bullpen arms and play for tomorrow.

“Everybody’s hot. The whole bullpen is hot. Everybody’s on red alert immediately,” Cruz said. “Hopefully, JD [McCracken] comes out and performs and gets us deep into the game. I like our chances if that happens.”

Rice baseball will play the loser of Wednesday’s nightcap between Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic. If the Owls prevail they’ll live to fight another day. If they don’t, they’ll be watching the remainder of the tournament from the stands.

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2023 Conference USA Baseball Tournament: Preview, schedule, how to watch

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The Conference USA Baseball Tournament is headed to Houston, Texas. Here’s how to watch and what to be looking for this week.

The final weekend of regular season play saw teams jockeying for position, but now the Conference USA Baseball Tournament field is finally set. The top eight squads will square off with hopes of an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and their chance to play for a trip to the College World Series.

All games will be streamed on ESPN+ with the exception of the tournament championship, available on CBS Sports Network. The tournament runs from Wednesday, May 24 to Sunday, May 28. The full schedule and updated bracket are available on the Conference USA Baseball Tournament website.

Assessing the field

The favorite | Dallas Baptist has only lost five games in conference play this season and posted an emphatic three-game sweep of UTSA in San Antonio in their penultimate series of the regular season. It’s hard to give the favorite nod to anyone else.

The contender | UTSA might have dropped three games to DBU, but all were relatively close contests. There’s still a clear gap between the Roadrunners and the rest of the pack and they do boast the most potent offense in the conference.

The darkhorse | WKU was in danger of missing the conference tournament altogether roughly a month ago following a sweep at home by Middle Tennessee. Since then the Hilltoppers have won 13-of-15 conference games. They’re the hottest team in the league and that matters come postseason time.

The wild card | Seeds 3 through 7 were neck and neck entering the final weekend before Charlotte emerged atop that group. The 49ers have one of the better one-two punches on the mound in Conference USA between Wyatt Hudepohl and Cameron Hansen. Teams can go far in pod play if they get two quality starts out of the gate and that tandem is certainly capable of making some noise.

The bracket

The opening day of games will take place on Wednesday, May 24:

Game 1 – 9:00 AM | (3) Charlotte vs (6) Louisiana Tech

Game 2 – 12:30 PM | (2) UTSA vs (7) Middle Tennessee

Game 3 – 4:00 PM | (1) DBU vs (8) Rice

Game 4 – 7:30 PM | (4) WKU  vs (5) Florida Atlantic

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2023 Conference USA Baseball Roundup entering May

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With the regular season winding down, there’s a lot going on in Conference USA Baseball. From the top to the bottom, here’s the latest.

Notable weekend results

1. Rice leads DBU after seven three times, but walks away winless (more)

Rice baseball capped off a tough month of April with an extra dose of heartbreak. Not only did Rice lead Dallas Baptist late in all three contests, the Owls suffered late-inning rallies to the Patriots and were swept. Rice was 13-2 when leading after seven innings entering the weekend. Now they’re 13-5.

2. WKU surging

Three weeks ago, Western Kentucky was 2-10 in conference play and had just been swept at home by Middle Tennesse. Then something clicked. The Hilltoppers took two of three from UAB, then swept FAU and Charlotte. No longer at the bottom of the standings, WKU has a real chance to finish in the top three or four spots in the standings thanks to a red-hot April.

3. UTSA theatrics

A battle of teams from opposite ends of the standings was anything but uninteresting this past weekend. UAB won on Friday and nearly took the series, leading 5-2 in the ninth inning on Saturday. That’s when UTSA thundered back with a four-run inning to take the game and eventually wrap up the series win on Sunday.

Standings

Team CUSA Overall
1 DBU 18-3 34-10
2 UTSA 16-4 33-11
3 Charlotte 12-8 22-21
4 MTSU 11-10 22-21
5 LA Tech 11-10 22-23
6 FAU 10-11 26-19
7 WKU 10-11 25-20
8 Rice 7-14 17-26
9 UAB 5-16 14-29
10 FIU 4-17 16-27

Upcoming series of note

1. WKU at FIU

FIU finds itself at the bottom of the standings, just like WKU was a few weeks ago, but a series win over a hot squad could reinvigorate their spirits and make the battle for the final C-USA Tournament spot much more interesting.

2. MTSU at DBU

Although they’re won 17 of their last 18 games, Dallas Baptist looked somewhat mortal this past weekend at Rice. Can MTSU take advantage of any chinks in the Patriot armor?

3. Rice at UTSA

How much of last weekend was a mirage versus actually building blocks? Winning some games in San Antonio would do a lot for the Owls’ psyche as the regular season winds down.

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