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Pirates get mixed
results in rankings
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C-USA standings
shuffled;
ECU-UNC showdown looms
Despite incurring two losses during the week, East Carolina is still
one of two Conference USA teams getting attention in the national polls.
ECU (26-9-1) held on to its places at 20th in the BaseballAmerica rankings
and 23rd in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll while slipping out of the
rankings from last week's No. 29 spot in the Baseball News pecking order.
The Pirates' fellow C-USA member, Houston, is ranked 7th by
BaseballAmerica for the second week in a row. The Cougars jumped two rungs
to 10th in the USA Today/ESPN list while climbing a spot to 10th in the
Baseball News poll.
Meanwhile, Houston (27-10) moved into a tie with Texas Christian for
first-place in C-USA's mid-season standings after sweeping a three-game
series from Memphis by a combined score of 46-10. The Cougars and the Horned
Frogs each sport 11-4 conference records.
Southern Miss, which was alone at the top of the league standings
last week, lost two games out of three to Louisville and fell into a
third-place tie with the Cardinals at 10-5. The Golden Eagles, 28th last
week in Baseball News, dropped out of the rankings.
ECU, which won two out of three at league rival Charlotte, is next at
8-6-1, followed by South Florida at 8-7.
Home Sweet Home for
pressure-packed week
<<< Top of Page >>>
The Pirates' and Bulls' close proximity in the Conference USA standings adds
extra spice to this weekend's scheduled series between the two teams. USF
will challenge ECU in Harrington Field on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
But before ECU gets worked up about South Florida's trip to Greenville, the
Pirates will be involved in another game with high stakes of a different
kind. In-state bragging rights will be on the line when North Carolina
pays a visit Wednesday night.
Like ECU, the Tar Heels will be trying to validate their worth in the eyes
of the voters in the national polls. Probably more important to both teams,
though, is the institutional ego boost that goes to the winner.
Barring adverse weather, the 7 p.m. game has the potential to draw a crowd
approaching or exceeding record size to Harrington Field proper and its
adjacent environs, including the 'Jungle'.
Losses fail to budge Clemson from perch
<<< Top of Page >>>
Clemson (30-4) lost twice during the
week, to Georgia and North Carolina, but still managed to remain atop all
three polls for the third straight week.
Wake Forest (28-6), which swept a
three-game series from Virginia, held steady at 5th in BaseballAmerica and
6th in USA Today/ESPN but advanced one position to 5th in Baseball News.
South Carolina (28-8) won all four of
its games and neither rose nor fell in the rankings, staying at 8th, 7th
and 7th, respectively, in the BaseballAmerica, USA Today/ESPN and Baseball
News lists.
North Carolina (25-13) was 3-2 during
the week, maintaining its No. 21 ranking one spot behind ECU in
BaseballAmerica, but the Tar Heels fell a spot to 25th in USA Today/ESPN
while, oddly, rising from 13th to 12th in Baseball News.
Three Carolinas teams, though not cracking the
rankings, received votes in this week's USA Today/ESPN poll:
UNC-Wilmington (9 votes), Coastal Carolina (3) and Elon
(1).
The new rankings were released Monday and are based on
results of games through Sunday, April 14.
Rankings Composite
<<< Top of Page >>>
Carolinas/C-USA
teams' rankings summary (last week's ranking in parentheses):
| School |
BaseballAmerica |
USA
Today/ESPN |
Baseball News |
| Clemson |
1 (1) |
1 (1) |
1 (1) |
| Wake
Forest |
5 (5) |
6 (6) |
5 (6) |
| South
Carolina |
8 (8) |
7 (7) |
7 (7) |
| Houston |
7 (7) |
10 (12) |
10 (11) |
| North
Carolina |
21 (21) |
25 (24) |
12 (13) |
| Southern
Miss |
NR |
NR |
NR (28) |
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Tulane vs. LSU smashes
attendance record
<<< Top of Page >>>
 The
Tulane (C-USA) and LSU (SEC) baseball teams set the NCAA record for
attendance with 27,673 on hand April 10 at the Louisiana Superdome, but the
Green Wave found themselves on the wrong side of the history books as the
team in Olive and Blue dropped a 9-5 decision to the Tigers.
The crowd in the Dome shattered the
regular-season attendance record of 21,043 set by TCU and Texas on May 4,
1996 at The Ballpark at Arlington, and eclipsed the all-time attendance
record of 24,859 set on June 13, 1999 in a doubleheader at the College World
Series when Miami took on Alabama and Rice battled Oklahoma State.
Houston pitcher
turns Tigers into pussy cats
<<< Top of Page >>>
Houston right-hander Brad
Sullivan set a school single-game record with 16 strikeouts in only 7
innings against Memphis. Sullivan scattered three hits and allowed only two
balls out of the infield and none after the fourth inning. He struck out
every Memphis starter at least once in the game.
C-USA
Baseball Standings (04/15/02)
Conference Overall
Team
W L T Pct W L T
Pct
Houston........ 11 4 0 .733 27 10 0
.730
TCU............ 11 4 0 .733 20 17 0
.541
Louisville..... 10 5 0 .667 21 10 0
.677
Southern Miss.. 10 5 0 .667 24 13 0
.649
East Carolina.. 8 6 1 .567 26
9 1 .736
South Florida.. 8 7 0 .533 21 15
0 .583
Tulane......... 7 8 0 .467 20 18
0 .526
Charlotte...... 7 8 0 .467 17 18
0 .486
Memphis........ 6 9 0 .400 12 20
0 .375
Cincinnati..... 4 10 1 .300 15 19 1
.443
Saint Louis.... 4 11 0 .267 13 19 0
.406
UAB............ 3 12 0 .200 10 25 0
.286
— From Staff and Conference USA
reports. —
— 30 —
02/23/2007 11:20:59 AM
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