The 2018 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championships will get underway Tuesday with a 3 p.m. game between fourth seed East Carolina (39-15) and No. 5 seed Central Florida (35-19) at Spectrum Field in Clearwater, FL.
The Pirates will be joined in their half of the bracket by top-seed Houston (33-21) and No. 8 seed Tulane (24-31). The Cougars Green Wave will play at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
The winners of the two opening contests will meet on Thursday, while the losing team face an elimination game on Wednesday.
ECU traveled to Orlando and took two of three games from UCF during the regular season.
On the other side of the bracket, teams begin play on Wednesday with No. 7 Wichita State (34-19-1) facing No. 2 South Florida (32-18-1) at 11 a.m., followed by a matchup pitting third-seed Connecticut (32-18-1) against No. 6 seed Cincinnati (28-26) at 3 p.m.
The 2018 tournament will be played in a double-elimination format through the semifinal round. The championship final is a winner-take-all matchup on Sunday, May 27, which will determine The American’s automatic entrant to the NCAA Championship.
Live coverage of the first five days of the championship will be provided by the American Digital Network Plus, the conference’s new home for live events on the Facebook platform. The May 27 final will be televised at 12 noon on ESPN News.
Tickets for the championship will be available at Spectrum Field each day of the tournament or may be purchased in advance by calling the box office at 727-467-4457.
The complete tournament schedule:
(TV: Championship game on ESPN News; all other games on American Digital Network Plus on Facebook)
Tuesday, May 22
Game 1: No. 5 UCF vs. No. 4 ECU | 9 a.m. ET (moved from 3 p.m. ET)
Game 2: No. 8 Tulane (24-31) vs. No. 1 Houston 12 p.m. ET (moved from 7 p.m. ET)
Wednesday, May 23
Game 3: No. 7 Wichita State (34-19-1) vs. No. 2 USF |11 a.m. ET
Game 4: No. 6 Cincinnati vs. No. 3 UConn | 3 p.m. ET
Game 5: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 | 7 p.m. ET |Elimination Game
Thursday, May 24
Game 6: Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 | 11 a.m. ET |Elimination Game
Game 7: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 | 3 p.m. ET
Game 8: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4 | 7 p.m. ET
Friday, May 25
Game 9: Loser of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 5 | 11 a.m. ET | Elimination Game
Game 10: Loser of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 6 | 3 p.m. ET | Elimination Game
Semifinal Round – Saturday, May 26
Game 11: Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 9 | 10 a.m. ET
Game 12: Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 10 | 1 p.m. ET if necessary
Game 13: Loser of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 11 | 4:30 p.m. ET if necessary
Game 14: Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12 | 7:30 p.m. ET
Championship Game – Sunday, May 27
Semifinal Winners | Noon p.m. ET
What is the status of Matt Bridges and Tyler Smith, who has not started in the last 2 conference series and normally the Sunday starter for ECU