May 4, 2008

Updated Standings and Results in PDF Format

First place Rice had the weekend off, but the teams behind the Owls continue to jockey for position in the conference standings. Following this weekend's action, just two games separate second place Tulane from sixth place Marshall, with East Carolina, Houston and Southern Miss all tied for third place. East Carolina and Houston swept their league series', while Southern Miss and Tulane both won two-of-three.

East Carolina increased its winning streak to nine games with the three wins over UAB, scoring 39 runs in the series. Freshman RHP Seth Maness improved to 8-0 in Friday night's win as six different Pirate batters recorded two or more hits. On Saturday, ECU took game one, 17-1, as Corey Kemp hit his 14th home run of the season and drove in five runs. In game two, T.J. Hose earned his fifth win of the season as the Pirates jumped out to a big lead and held on for an 8-7 win.

Houston posted its second Conference USA sweep of the season by winning three in a row over Memphis. Jimmy Cesario sparked Friday night's win with a three-run home run in the eighth inning that proved to be the difference in a 7-4 victory. The Cougars came back with another 7-4 win on Saturday, as John Touchton struck out a career-high eight batters and UH produced 12 hits. Houston finished off the sweep on Sunday with a 5-4 victory, taking advantage of two eighth inning wild pitches to score two runs.

Marshall exploded on Southern Miss in Friday night's series opener in Charleston, leading 15-4 in the sixth inning before finishing with a 16-10 win. Tommy Johnson had a three-run homer and Ben Jurevicious hit his first collegiate round-tripper to guide the Herd. On Saturday, Keith Winstead had his first career four-hit game as Southern Miss notched 15 hits in a 12-8 victory. The Golden Eagles won the series on Sunday, as Barry Bowden had a successful return to the mound after missing a month, throwing four innings in a 5-0 shutout. The blanking marked the first time all season that the hard-hitting Herd had been shut out.

Tulane used strong pitching to take the first two games of its series with UCF. Shooter Hunt picked up his eight win of the year on Friday night, striking out six over seven innings in a 5-2 win. Matt Petiton improved to 6-0 with his first career complete game on Saturday, allowing only one run on four hits in a 6-1 victory. Sunday was quite a different story, as UCF scored six runs in both the first and second innings to cruise to a 12-1 victory.