Southern Miss and Rice will square off Sunday in the Conference USA Baseball Tournament Championship game.
The Rice Owls are trying to keep their streak alive of reaching 22 straight NCAA Tournaments. They haven’t had the year typical of a Rice team, but they’ve gotten hot at the right time and are one win away from punching their NCAA Tournament ticket and extending the streak to 23 years.
They’ve blown straight through the CUSA Baseball Tournament and advanced to the championship game with a 13-2 win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday.
Dane Myers was 3-5 with a home run, 3 runs scored and 4 RBI for the Owls.
Will Amador navigated through 6 innings giving up just 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk. He had to rely heavily on the Rice defense as he didn’t record a single strikeout.
Meanwhile, Southern Miss had to win two games on Saturday to advance to the CUSA Baseball Tournament Championship game.
It looked like that wasn’t going to happen as they were down 5-1 going into the bottom of the eighth. But they scored five runs in the final two frames to earn a walk-off win over Charlotte.
Taylor Braley had the 2-run, walk-off home run for the Golden Eagles.
Things went a little smoother in the second game, although it was tied 6-6 going into the eighth inning when Southern Miss exploded for four runs.
Things got a little interesting in the bottom of the ninth as well. Charlotte scored two runs and brought the tying run to the plate, but the Southern Miss closer, Nick Sandlin, got the strikeout to end the game.
NCAA Tournament Picture: Charlotte was oh so close to securing an at-large big with a win over Southern Miss, but that loss in the ninth inning might cost them a trip to the postseason. They are lumped in with La Tech, Old Dominion, FAU and Rice who all have a similar RPI. I think Conference USA definitely gets at least three teams in the tournament, but it’s very difficult determining which three get in. Southern Miss is a lock, and in my opinion Rice should be a lock, but they will probably have to win the championship to get in. La Tech still has the best RPI of the group, so maybe they still get in. And I think Old Dominion gets in as well, leaving FAU and Charlotte on the outside looking in. Also, I think a win on Sunday for Southern Miss ensures them a national seed in the tournament.
CUSA Tournament Championship Preview: Rice clearly has the advantage in this game pitching-wise having played less games in the tournament. However, there isn’t much pitching that is going to stop that Southern Miss offense. I expect this to be a very high scoring game, and I think the Golden Eagles win, leaving the selection committee with a difficult decision about Rice.
Prediction: Southern Miss
