FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Pairings were announced today for the 2008 Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship, which will be held May 20-24 at Lupton Stadium on the campus of TCU in Fort Worth, Texas.
No. 24 TCU captured its third consecutive regular season title and No. 1 seed to the tournament after finishing conference play with a 19-5 record. New Mexico and San Diego State finished tied for second in the league standings with 16-8 records. The Lobos will be the second seed in the tournament, with the Aztecs claiming the third seed by virtue of the Conference tie-breaking procedure. In head-to-head competition between the two schools New Mexico won two of three games over San Diego State earlier this season. BYU and Utah finished 10-14 in league play to tie for fourth in the Conference standings. The Cougars will be the fourth seed at next week’s championship, while the fifth-seed belongs to the Utes based on BYU winning the conference series over Utah, 2-1. UNLV, 9-15 in MWC play, will be the sixth seed.
The opening game of the double-elimination tournament will see third-seeded San Diego State taking on No. 6 seed UNLV at 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 20, followed by No. 4 seed BYU vs. No. 5 seed Utah at 7 p.m. The 11 a.m. game on Wednesday, May 24 will pit the losers of the first two games in an elimination contest. Second-seeded New Mexico will play the highest seed to advance from Game No. 1 and Game No. 2 at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, while top-seeded TCU will take on the lowest seed to advance from the first two contests at 7 p.m. The championship game is set for Friday, May 23 at 7 p.m., with the “if necessary” game set for 3 p.m., Saturday, May 24.
The entire Phillips 66 MWC Baseball Championship will be televised live, with The Mtn. – MountainWest Sports Network and CBS College Sports Network (CBS C) providing the coverage. All 10 of the tournament games will be shown live on The Mtn., with same day tape delay coverage of the championship game(s) to be broadcast to a national audience on CBS C. Friday’s championship game will air at 10:30 p.m. CT, while the “if necessary” contest is set to air at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday, May 24.
The winner of the MWC Baseball Championship will earn an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection Show is scheduled for Monday, May 26 at 12:30 p.m. ET.
