June 29, 2007

Conference USA completed another successful season on the diamond. For the third straight year, the league produced a College World Series representative, with Rice winning a pair of games in Omaha for the second straight year. The Owls were joined in the NCAA Championship by East Carolina, Memphis and Southern Miss, marking the sixth straight season that C-USA has produced at least four NCAA teams. The Conference also produced six All-Americans, the National Freshman Pitcher of the Year and a record five Academic All-Americans. Here's a look at some of C-USA's baseball accomplishments:

CONFERENCE USA BASEBALL 2007 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Conference USA was the No. 5 ranked baseball conference in 2006, trailing only the ACC, SEC, Big 12 and Pac-10.
• Rice advanced to its sixth College World Series since 1997. The Owls won a pair of games in Omaha for the second straight season. It was the third consecutive year that C-USA placed a team in the CWS (Tulane in 2005).
• Conference USA placed four teams in the 2007 NCAA Tournament (East Carolina, Memphis, Rice and Southern Miss). It was the sixth straight year that C-USA produced at least four NCAA teams.
• For the seventh time in the last eight years, a Conference USA team hosted an NCAA Regional when Rice welcomed TCU, Baylor and Prairie View to the Houston Regional. The Owls also hosted a Super Regional against Texas A&M, marking the eighth straight season a C-USA team has advanced to Super Regional play.
• Rice (56-14) had the second-highest win total in college baseball. The 54 wins by the Owls prior to the World Series marked the fourth year in a row that Conference USA has produced the team with either the most total wins heading into the CWS or the best regular season record in Division I (Rice in 2006, Tulane in 2005 and East Carolina in 2004).
• The Owls were the No. 1 ranked team in the nation several weeks of the season, the third year in a row that C-USA produced the top-ranked team in multiple weeks of the season (Rice in 2006 and Tulane in 2005).
• East Carolina, Houston, Southern Miss and Tulane were each nationally-ranked at some point in the season, giving the league five ranked schools in 2007.
• Seven of the nine Conference USA teams won at least one game against a nationally-ranked, non-conference opponent.
• C-USA teams posted a total of 27 wins over nationally-ranked, non-conference opponents during the regular season, including 10 against Top 10 foes.
• Among the NCAA teams that C-USA defeated in 2007 were: North Carolina (Rice), Texas (Rice), Clemson (Memphis), Mississippi (Southern Miss), Texas A&M (Rice), Cal State Fullerton (East Carolina and Rice), Pepperdine (East Carolina), Long Beach State (Rice), TCU (Rice and UCF), Missouri (Memphis), Nebraska (Rice), Florida (UCF), LSU (Tulane and UCF), Louisiana-Lafayette (Southern Miss), Michigan (East Carolina and UCF), Louisville (Rice and Southern Miss) and Baylor (Houston and Rice).
• Six different Conference USA players were honored as All-Americans, including consensus first team All-American Joe Savery of Rice.
• Three C-USA players earned Freshman All-American honors, including Collegiate Baseball's National Freshman Pitcher of the Year Ryan Berry of Rice.
• Conference USA had three players that earned National Player of the Week honors.
• A record five C-USA players earned recognition as 2007 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-Americans, including two first team selections from Southern Miss (Patrick Ezell and Trey Sutton). Two additional players earned Academic All-District honors.
• Conference USA had 29 players chosen in the June Major League Baseball Draft, the second-highest total in league history. Rice's Joe Savery was the first of an NCAA record-tying 14 selections from Rice. Savery's selection marked the third straight year that C-USA has produced a first round pick.
• Fourteen players from C-USA schools appeared on the opening day rosters of Major League Baseball teams, with seven schools represented.

CONFERENCE USA BASEBALL SCHOOLS
The nine schools that currently comprise Conference USA Baseball have enjoyed a great deal of success. Here are some of their accomplishments:

Ten College World Series Appearances

2003 National Champions - Rice

At least one College World Series team in seven of the last nine seasons.

94 NCAA Appearances in Baseball (55 since 1995)

Five National Players of the Year since 1995

Six National Freshman of the Year since 1995

100 players have been All-Americans since 1995

Schools have combined to win 40 or more games 47 times in the last 11 years

Has had a team ranked No. 1 in the nation in each of the last four regular seasons