USF Earns No. 6 Seed - Faces ND
May 18, 2008 | Baseball
PROVIDENCE, R.I. ? With a 14-13 league record, the University of South Florida earned the sixth seed for the 2008 BIG EAST Baseball Championship, which begins play Tuesday, May 20 at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. The tournament's opening ceremonies and awards presentations will be Monday, May 19 at 5 p.m. at Bright House Field.
The No. 6 Bulls will face the No. 3 seed Notre Dame at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20 a rematch of the regular season ending series held in Tampa May 15-17. The Bulls won three one-run games against the Fighting Irish to close the regular season and play their way into the tournament.
Click here for the 2008 BIG EAST Baseball Championship bracket.
The St. John's Red Storm secured the outright regular-season BIG EAST title Saturday after splitting a doubleheader with Villanova. The Wildcats took the final spot in the BIG EAST Championship with an 8-7, 11-inning win against St. John's in the opener before the Red Storm earned a 5-2 win in the nightcap. That left St. John's with a one-game lead in the standings against second-place Cincinnati and gave the Red Storm their third regular-season title in the last four years.
Saturday's results set the stage for a first-day rematch between St. John's and Villanova, as the Wildcats enter the BIG EAST Championship as the No. 8 seed. That game will follow Tuesday's opening game between No. 4 seed Louisville and No. 5 seed Seton Hall, which begins at 10 a.m.
Cincinnati enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed as the Bearcats finished a game behind St. John's in the BIG EAST standings. The Bearcats, who had not finished higher than seventh in their first two years in the BIG EAST, will meet No. 7 seed West Virginia in Tuesday's first round at 5 p.m. Cincinnati took all three meetings against the Mountaineers to close the regular season.
The BIG EAST Championship is an eight-team, double-elimination tournament, with the championship game scheduled for Saturday, May 24 at 1 p.m. The winner of the tournament receives the BIG EAST's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. St. John's and Notre Dame have won a conference-best five tournament titles each.
The May 24 BIG EAST Championship game will be televised live on ESPNU, marking the third straight year in which the title game will be carried live on the ESPN family of networks. This year's championship also may be heard on XM Satellite Radio, which will provide coverage of Friday's semifinal games and Saturday's championship game.
Coverage of the BIG EAST Championship also will be available on the web at BIGEASTBaseball.com. The site will include live streaming video of all games, with the exception of Saturday's championship game, as well as live coverage of Monday's opening ceremonies, live statistics and updated tournament brackets.
2008 BIG EAST Baseball Championship Schedule
Monday, May 19
Opening Ceremonies/Award Presentations - Gates open at 5 p.m.; ceremonies begin at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, May 20 - Four games (Live video on BIGEASTBaseball.com)
Game 1 ? No. 5 Seton Hall vs. No. 4 Louisville, 10 a.m.
Game 2 ? No. 8 Villanova vs. No. 1 St. John's, 1 p.m.
Game 3 ? No. 7 West Virginia vs. No. 2 Cincinnati, 5 p.m.
Game 4 ? No. 6 USF vs. No. 3 Notre Dame, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, May 21 - Four games (Live video on BIGEASTBaseball.com)
Game 5 ? Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 10 a.m.
Game 6 ? Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 1 p.m.
Game 7 ? Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 5 p.m.
Game 8 ? Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 8 p.m.
Thursday, May 22 - Two games (Live video on BIGEASTBaseball.com)
Game 9 ? Loser of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 5, 4 p.m.
Game 10 ? Loser of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 6, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 23 - Two, three, or four games (XM Radio; Live video on BIGEASTBaseball.com))
Game 11 ? Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 9, 10 a.m.
Game 12 ? Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 10, 1 p.m.
Game 13 ? Loser of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 11, 5 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 14 ? Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12, 6:30 p.m. or 8 p.m.
(if necessary; game would be at 6:30 if Game 13 is not necessary, 8 p.m. otherwise)
Saturday, May 24 - Championship game (ESPNU, XM Radio)
Game 15 ? Winner of Group 1 vs. Winner of Group 2, 1 p.m.
