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News Nuggets, 05.30.05
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Regional host picks should boost Pirates' hopes

If the NCAA's designation of hosts for its regional playoffs is a reasonable indicator of which teams it considers the elites of college baseball, East Carolina has reason to be at least a bit optimistic about how this year's selections reflect on its own merits as a potential invitee to the 64-team field.

During the regular season, the Pirates played three of the 16 teams awarded hosting privileges for next weekend's regionals. The indirect result could conceivably be just enough boost in ECU's strength of schedule index to bring the Pirates their 7th postseason bid in a row, despite a 35-24 record.

Clemson, Arizona State and Tulane, all of which appeared on ECU's 2005 schedule, were selected as regional hosts. The Pirates had mixed results against the trio, walloping the Tigers, losing to ASU and being swept in four meetings by the Green Wave.

The setbacks against Tulane may not be as detrimental to ECU's odds of landing a tournament berth as it would appear on the surface, because the Wave is No. 1 in the nation in one of the major polls and No. 2 in the other.

The Pirates will gather together this morning at 11:30 a.m. in their lounge at Clark-LeClair Stadium to watch ESPN, the network on which the NCAA tournament selections will be announced.

Defending national champion Cal State Fullerton headed the list of 16 regional hosts announced Sunday by the NCAA Division I baseball committee.

The Titans (41-14), led by star right-hander Ricky Romero and outfielder Sergio Pedroza, are trying to become just the fifth program to repeat as College World Series champions.

The Southeastern Conference — with Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi and Tennessee — and Atlantic Coast Conference — with Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Miami — led the field with four regional hosts each.

The Big 12 had three representatives selected: Baylor, Nebraska and Texas.

``There were very, very, very few slam dunks this year to host,'' committee chairman Charlie Carr said. ``You could split hairs between maybe 25 of them. This was maybe the toughest decisions we've had to make since I've been involved.''

Carr, a senior associate athletic director at Florida State, once served a stint as an administrator in the ECU athletic department.

Arizona State, a Pac-10 member, is joined as a host by the champion of its league, Oregon State (41-9), which will be the home team for a regional for the first time since the NCAA went to the regional format in 1975.

``This is great news for everyone involved with Oregon State baseball,'' Beavers coach Pat Casey said. ``For our team, our staff, and especially our fans because they're going to be able to watch us play in the postseason. They've given us a tremendous home-field advantage this season.''

Long Beach State, Mississippi and Tulane will be hosting regionals for the second time. The other host is Arizona State.

``One of the criteria is geographical distribution, but it's one of many factors that go into it,'' said Carr, also the senior associate athletic director at Florida State. ``The most overriding factor is trying to reward success.''

Each of the 16 host schools are guaranteed berths in the 64-team tournament, which starts Friday. The rest of the field, including the top eight national seeds, will be announced by the committee Monday.

Each of the four-team, double-elimination regionals will be played on campus sites from June 3-6. The winners of each regional will advance to the super regionals, played June 10-13.

The eight winners of the super regionals will play in the College World Series, which starts June 17 in Omaha, Neb.

Carr said the committee received over 40 bids from schools to host in the postseason.

``It was a similar number to what we've had in the past,'' Carr said. ``It's a great representation of our college baseball membership.''

Florida State will be hosting for the 24th time, while Miami and Texas are hosts for the 21st time since the regional format started.

The Hurricanes (38-17) were selected to host despite entering the tournament on a six-game losing streak, their longest since 1966.

``I think everyone was confident that we would host a regional,'' coach Jim Morris said.

Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Mississippi and Texas each hosted regionals last year. Long Beach State didn't, but hosted a super regional.

The committee received a bid from Big East regular-season champion St. John's, representing the Northeast — an area that rarely bids for or plays host to regionals. But the Red Storm lost their two games in the conference tournament and don't have the attendance numbers many of the other schools awarded regionals do.

``Their bid was certainly within the guidelines of our parameters and we certainly gave them consideration,'' Carr said. ``There were so many bids that were so close.''

Incoming Conference USA member Rice (40-17), which served as a host school the last four years, and the College of Charleston (47-13) were also among schools considered.

The College of Charleston's bid was denied in large part because of reported poor field conditions at Joe Riley Ballpark, the site of the Southern Conference tournament, which the school chose to use as the host stadium rather than its on-campus ballpark.

``There was a factor in the field conditions,'' Carr said. ``And we felt it would be better to look otherwise.''

Cal State Fullerton is trying to join Texas (1949-50), Southern California (1970-74), Stanford (1987-88) and Louisiana State (1996-97) as repeat national champions.

Compiled from staff, ECU Athletics and Associated Press reports.

Washed-out title game produces co-champions

Tulane and Texas Christian were declared co-champions of the 2005 Conference USA Baseball Tournament when severe thunderstorms prompted officials to cancel Sunday's scheduled title game in Hattiesburg, MS.

Tulane, the regular season champion and the tourney's No. 1 seed, was awarded the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and also received word Sunday that it would serve as one of 16 regional hosts for the 64-team playoffs.

The storms, accompanied by hail and lightning, made the field conditions at host Southern Mississippi's Pete Taylor park unplayable, the tournament officials, coaches and umpires concluded.

It marked the first time in C-USA history that a championship game in any sport could not be completed because of weather-related issues.

Tulane slugger Nathan Southard was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. He became just the second player in the history of the tournament to hit three home runs in a game during Saturday’s 10-1 win over Houston. He batted .538 (7-for-13) in the tournament with six RBI's and six runs scored.

The Green Wave and Horned Frogs each placed four members on the All-Tournament team, while Southern Miss had two selections and East Carolina, Houston and South Florida each placed one player on the squad.

CONFERENCE USA ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
   C Brian Baisley, USF
   IF Brad Emaus, Tulane
   IF Chad Huffman, TCU
   IF Dustin Kingsbury, Houston
   IF Trey Sutton, Southern Miss
   OF Keith Conlon, TCU
   OF Jason Lowery, Southern Miss
   OF Nathan Southard, Tulane
   DH Mike Grace, East Carolina
   P Brian Bogusevic, Tulane
   P Lance Broadway, TCU
   P Sam Demel, TCU
   P Micah Owings, Tulane

Compiled from a Conference USA report.

C-USA Tournament brackets, scores & wrap-up

Final results (through 05.29.05)

Compiled from Bonesville.net staff, Conference USA and other reports.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from Associated Press and other sources. Copyright 2005 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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