Conference USA Baseball Tournament
| Conference USA Baseball Tournament | |
|---|---|
| Conference Baseball Championship | |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Conference | Conference USA |
| Number of teams | 8 |
| Format | Double Elimination |
| Current stadium | Pete Taylor Park |
| Current location | Hattiesburg, Mississippi |
| Played | 1996-present |
| Last contest | 2015 |
| Current champion | FIU (1) |
| Most championships | Rice (6) |
| Official website | ConferenceUSA.CSTV.com Baseball |
| Host stadiums | |
|
MGM Park (2017–19) Pete Taylor Park (1996, 2005, 2009, 2014–16) Reckling Park (2006, 2013) Trustmark Park (2011-12) Cougar Field (2004, 2010) Turchin Stadium (1997, 2003, 2008) Clark-LeClair Stadium (2007) Grainger Stadium (2002) Zephyr Field (1998, 2001) Florida Power Park (2000) USA Stadium (1999) |
|
| Host locations | |
|
Biloxi, MS (2017–19) Hattiesburg, MS (1996, 2005, 2009, 2014–16) Pearl, MS (2011-12) Houston, TX (2004, 2006, 2010, 2013) New Orleans, LA (1997-98, 2001, 2003, 2008) Greenville, NC (2007) Kinston, NC (2002) St. Petersburg, FL (2000) Millington, TN (1999) |
|
The Conference USA Baseball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in baseball for Conference USA (C-USA). The winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. The tournament format, which has changed several times, currently consists of an eight-team double-elimination tournament format, in which the winners of two four-team brackets play in a single-game final. Rice, which has won the tournament six times, is the most successful team in the tournament's history.
The tournament was first held in 1996, the first season after Conference USA was formed from the merger of the Metro Conference and the Great Midwest Conference.
From 1996 to 1999, the tournament format consisted of an eight-team double-elimination tournament preceded by a single-game play-in round. The play-in round determined which of the lowest seeds (by regular season conference record) would qualify for the eight-team bracket. In 1996, when the league had nine baseball-sponsoring schools, the play-in round included the 8th and 9th seeds. When Houston joined from the Southwest Conference prior to the 1997 season, the play-in round featured the 7th–10th seeds. The eight-team double-elimination tournament consisted of two four-team double-elimination brackets, the winners of which met in a single-game final.
In the 2000 tournament, the play-in round was eliminated, and the top eight seeds qualified for the eight-team double-elimination tournament automatically. The eight-team bracket followed the same format as it had from 1996 to 1999.
In 2010, the tournament format was changed from double-elimination to round robin. The top six regular season finishers qualified for the tournament field, which consisted of two three-team "pods." Pod 1 included the 1st, 4th, and 5th seeds, and Pod 2 included the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th seeds. Each team played three preliminary games, two against its podmates and one against a team from the opposite group. The cross-group games matched up the seeds as follows: 1st vs. 6th, 2nd vs. 5th, and 3rd vs. 4th. The winner of each round robin pod advanced to a single-game final.
...
Wikipedia