2014 Conference USA Baseball Tournament

The 2014 Conference USA Baseball Tournament will be held from May 21 through May 25 at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The annual tournament determines the conference champion of the Division I Conference USA for college baseball. The tournament champion will receive the league's automatic bid to the 2014 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.[2][3][4] This is the last of 19 athletic championship events held by the conference in the 2013–14 academic year.[5]

2014 Conference USA
Baseball Tournament

Teams	8
Format	Double elimination
Finals site	Pete Taylor Park Hattiesburg, MS
Champions	Rice (6th title)
Winning coach	Wayne Graham (6th title)
MVP	Michael Aquino, Rice
Television	CBS SN (championship)

2014 Conference USA baseball standings
	Conf									Overall
Team	W		L		T		PCT			W		L		T		PCT
No. 17 Rice ‍†‍‡‍^y	23	–	7	–	0		.767			41	–	18	–	0		.695
UAB  ‍‍‍	20	–	10	–	0		.667			35	–	21	–	0		.625
Southern Miss  ‍‍‍	19	–	11	–	0		.633			35	–	25	–	0		.583
Middle Tennessee  ‍‍‍	17	–	13	–	0		.567			31	–	27	–	0		.534
Old Dominion  ‍‍‍^y	17	–	13	–	0		.567			36	–	24	–	0		.600
East Carolina  ‍‍‍	16	–	14	–	0		.533			33	–	26	–	0		.559
UTSA  ‍‍‍	16	–	14	–	0		.533			35	–	26	–	0		.574
FIU  ‍‍‍	16	–	14	–	0		.533			36	–	20	–	0		.643
Florida Atlantic  ‍‍‍	14	–	16	–	0		.467			28	–	25	–	0		.528
Tulane  ‍‍‍	10	–	18	–	0		.357			23	–	29	–	0		.442
Marshall  ‍‍‍	10	–	19	–	0		.345			20	–	31	–	0		.392
Charlotte  ‍‍‍	10	–	19	–	0		.345			19	–	31	–	1		.382
Louisiana Tech  ‍‍‍	5	–	25	–	0		.167			15	–	35	–	0		.300
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament As of May 26, 2014[1]; Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

The tournament was established in 1996, Conference USA's first season of play. Tulane and Rice have won the most championships, with five. Among current, returning teams, only Marshall has never won a title. The conference adds eight new teams for 2014.

Seeding and format

The top eight finishers from the regular season were seeded one through eight. The tournament returned to a double-elimination format, previously used from 1996 through 2010.[6]

Team	W	L	Pct	GB	Seed
Rice	23	7	.767	–	1
UAB	20	10	.667	3	2
Southern Miss	19	11	.633	4	3
Middle Tennessee	17	13	.567	6	4
Old Dominion	17	13	.567	6	5
East Carolina	16	14	.533	7	6
UTSA	16	14	.533	7	7
FIU	16	14	.533	7	8
Florida Atlantic	14	16	.467	9	–
Tulane	10	18	.357	12	–
Marshall	10	19	.345	12.5	–
Charlotte	10	19	.345	12.5	–
Louisiana Tech	5	25	.167	18	–

Bracket and Results

	First round May 21–22					Second round May 22–24					Semifinals May 24						Finals May 25
	5	Old Dominion	2
	4	Middle Tennessee	3
						4	Middle Tennessee	2
						1	Rice	8
	8	FIU	2
	1	Rice	9
											1	Rice	2	7
										5	Old Dominion	3	5
	5	Old Dominion	3
	8	FIU	2
						4	Middle Tennessee	1
						5	Old Dominion	2
																1	Rice	11
																7	UTSA	5
	7	UTSA	4
	2	UAB	2
						7	UTSA	8
						6	East Carolina	3
	6	East Carolina	9
	3	Southern Miss	8
											7	UTSA	7	7
										3	Southern Miss	8	0
	3	Southern Miss	4
	2	UAB	3
						3	Southern Miss	3
						6	East Carolina	1

Schedule

G#	Game[7]	Date	Kickoff (CT)	TV
First round
1	Old Dominion vs Middle Tennessee	May 21, 2014	9:00 am	CUSADN
2	FIU vs Rice	May 21, 2014	12:30 pm	CUSADN
3	UTSA vs UAB	May 21, 2014	4:00 pm	CUSADN
4	East Carolina vs Southern Miss	May 21, 2014	7:30 pm	CUSADN
5	Old Dominion vs FIU	May 22, 2014	9:00 am	CUSADN
6	Southern Miss vs UAB	May 22, 2014	12:30 pm	CUSADN
Second round
7	Middle Tennessee vs Rice	May 22, 2014	4:00 pm	CUSADN
8	UTSA vs East Carolina	May 22, 2014	7:30 pm	CUSADN
9	Middle Tennessee vs Old Dominion	May 23, 2014	3:00 pm	CUSADN
10	Southern Miss vs East Carolina	May 23, 2014	6:30 pm	CUSADN
Semifinals
11	Rice vs Old Dominion^1	May 24, 2014	9:00 am	CUSADN
12	UTSA vs Southern Miss^2	May 24, 2014	12:30 pm	CUSADN
Finals
13	Rice vs UTSA	May 25, 2014	1:00 pm	CBSSN

^Note 1 Game 11 will have a necessary if winner of Game 9 also wins Game 11. If so the game will be played on May 24 at 4:00 pm.

^Note 2 Game 12 will have a necessary if winner of Game 10 also wins Game 11. If so the game will be played on May 24 at 7:30 pm.

All-Tournament Team

The following players were named to the All-Tournament Team. Rice outfielder Michael Aquino, one of five Owls selected, was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Pos.	Name	Team
C	John Bormann	UTSA
IF	Nick Dawson	Southern Miss
IF	Skyler Ewing	Rice
IF	Ford Stainback	Rice
IF	Tyler Urps	Old Dominion
OF	Michael Aquino	Rice
OF	Nick Walker	Old Dominion
OF	John Welborn	UTSA
DH	Chase McDowell	Rice
P	Justin Anderson	UTSA
P	Blake Fox	Rice
P	Cameron Giannini	Southern Miss
P	Brock Hartson	UTSA

References

1. "Standings & Leaders". Conference USA. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
2. "Conference USA Baseball Format for 2014". Conference USA. Archived from the original on September 7, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
3. Joseph Duarte (October 10, 2013). "C-USA announces site of 2014 baseball tournament". Chron. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
4. Creg Stephenson (October 10, 2013). "Baseball: Southern Miss to host 2014 Conference USA tournament in Hattiesburg". The Mississippi Press. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
5. "2013-14 Conference USA Championship Schedule". Conference USA. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
6. "Southern Miss to host 2014 C-USA Baseball Championship". Conference USA. October 10, 2014. Archived from the original on January 10, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
7. "C-USA Baseball Championship Pairings Set". Archived from the original on May 20, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2014.