Around the Bases
Sivadasan
With about a month left in the regular season, one fact has become apparent: Conference USA baseball is not as strong as it was last season.
Last year, two teams (Houston and South Florida) made the NCAA Tournament; Houston and Tulane won 40 games and South Florida finished with 39 victories.
The overall parity in the league is exemplified by the three teams at the bottom of the conference, South Florida, St. Louis and Cincinnati.
Their combined C-USA records are 10-29, but the three have beaten some of the league's best teams.
Three of St. Louis' four conference wins have been at the expense of second-place teams, UAB and UH.
Despite South Florida's struggles, the Bulls have notched a victory over third-place Louisville, and Cincinnati's lone conference win was against Southern Miss.
While it is clear that the league overall is having a down year, the question is why?
Billikens head coach Bob Hughes has a theory.
"A lot of teams have a lot of new personnel, and I think this is a transition year for the conference in general," said Hughes.
"I don't think any of the teams this year are as dominating as South Florida, Tulane and Houston were last year and, because of that, other teams in our conference have a chance to win games and be the spoiler."
The Bulls, Green Wave and Cougars lost 12 players from their rosters to the major league draft, including C-USA Player of the Year Ross Gload (South Florida), Pitcher of the Year Jason Navarro (Tulane) and two All-C-USA first-teamers, Goefrey Tomlinson and Dustin Carr (Houston).
"The conference was strong last season because there were some outstanding players," Hughes said. "We still have great players, but we don't have the quantity of great players like last year."
C-USA Hitter of the Week
Tulane junior outfielder Jason Sparks hit five homers, batted .611 (11-for-18) and scored nine runs in leading the Green Wave to a 4-1 record last week. Sparks' week was highlighted by a three-run, game-winning homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat No. 3 Louisiana State in front of 10,540 fans at Zephyr Field last Tuesday.
C-USA Pitcher of the Week
In a 3-1 victory over UAB on Saturday, Saint Louis senior righty Roy Tippett pitched his second complete game of the year, allowing only five hits and striking out four.
The Numbers Game
For the first time this season, Tulane is ranked in two top 25 polls. The Green Wave is No. 22 in Baseball America and No. 23 in the Sporting News.
Southern Miss has hit 20 homers in its last seven games.
UNC Charlotte senior right fielder James Matan has tied the 49ers' single-season (18) and career home run records (39).
UH's three-straight shutouts against Cincinnati was the first time a C-USA team has been blanked in a conference series.