IRVING, TEXAS— The University of Houston baseball team wrapped up the regular season and will take part in the C-USA Baseball Championship presented by Trustmark, which begins Wednesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss. The Cougars are paired with Rice, Southern Miss and Memphis in Pod 1 and will open the tournament on Wednesday at 3 p.m. against top-seeded Rice.
Rice secured a share of their sixth C-USA regular-season crown in seven years with a series victory at UCF on the final weekend. ForRice (39-15), it marks the 17th consecutive season that the Owls have won aconference championship, dating back to 1995, the final year of the Southwest Conference.
The 2012 Conference USA Championship presented by Trustmark will feature the top eight teams in regular-season league play. Those eight will be split into two four-team pools (or pods), with the winner of each pod playing in a single championship game. Teams are assigned pods based on seed, which are determined by the order of finish inregular-season conference play.
Each team is guaranteed to play three games. Teams in each pod will play all three other teams in its pod. The team with the best composite record in each pod advances to the championship game. Two-way ties in a pod will be broken by head-to-head play. In the case of a three-way tie, the highest seed will advance.
Game times are 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the championship game slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The championship game will be nationally-televised by CBS Sports Network.
Pod number one features No.1 seed Rice, No. 4 seed Southern Miss, No. 5 seed Memphis and No. 8 seed Houston. Pod number two includes No. 2 seed UCF, No. 3 seed Tulane, No. 6 seed East Carolina and No. 7 seed UAB.
