Championship Central
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Capping a regular season in which four teams entered the final day tied for first place in the American Athletic Conference, UCF and Houston finished atop the standings at day’s end, giving the No. 1 seed for the 2017 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship to the Knights. The tournament begins Tuesday, May 23, at Spectrum Field in Clearwater, Florida.
The 2017 tournament will be played in a double-elimination format through the semifinal round. The championship final is a winner-take-all matchup Sunday, May 28, which will determine The American’s automatic entrant to the NCAA Championship.
Tuesday’s tournament-opening doubleheader will be televised by CBS Sports Network. Games from Wednesday, May 24, through Saturday, May 27, will be on The American Digital Network. The May 28 final will be televised at noon ET on ESPNews.
UCF (38-18), which was picked tied for last in the 2017 preseason coaches’ poll after finishing in that spot last season, made a remarkable turnaround under first-year head coach Greg Lovelady as the Knights won their first regular-season conference title since 2004, when they were members of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Knights took two of three games against USF in the final weekend of conference play, including Saturday’s 3-2 win with the conference title at stake.
The Knights will play their tournament opener Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET against No. 8-seeded East Carolina (29-27). UCF took all three regular-season meetings against the Pirates April 13-15 in Greenville, North Carolina.
Houston claimed a share of the regular season title by virtue of a series win against Cincinnati, giving the Cougars two regular season championships in the last three years. Houston will be the No. 2 seed in The American Championship, as UCF earned the tiebreaker for the top seed based on a series win in the regular season. Houston will face No. 7-seeded Memphis (29-27) Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET.
UConn (31-23) enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed for the second straight year as the Huskies look for similar results from last year, when they won the tournament title from that spot. UConn will begin tournament play Wednesday against Cincinnati (28-28), the No. 6 seed, at 3 p.m. ET.
The championship opener will feature USF (40-15), the No. 4 seed, against No. 5-seeded Tulane (27-29) at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday. The Bulls, who finished tied for seventh in The American last season, finished a game out of first place in the final standings.
Tickets for the championship will be available at Spectrum Field each day of the tournament or may be purchased in advance by calling the box office at 727-467-4457. The latest information on the American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship is available on the conference’s Championship Central page at
www.TheAmerican.org/Baseball.
2017 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
SPECTRUM field · clearwater, fla.
Tuesday, May 23 (CBS Sports Network)
Game 1 – No. 5 Tulane (27-29) vs. No. 4 USF (40-15)........................................ 3 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 8 East Carolina (29-27) vs. No. 1 UCF (38-18)................................ 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 24 (The American Digital Network)
Game 3 – No. 7 Memphis (29-27) vs. No. 2 Houston (36-19).............................. 11 a.m.
Game 4 – No. 6 Cincinnati (28-28) vs. No. 3 UConn (31-23)................................ 3 p.m.
Game 5 – Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2.............................................. 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 25 (The American Digital Network)
Game 6 – Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4............................................. 11 a.m.
Game 7 – Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2......................................... 3 p.m.
Game 8 – Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4......................................... 7 p.m.
Friday, May 26 (The American Digital Network
Game 9 – Loser of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 5.......................................... 11 a.m.
Game 10 – Loser of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 6.......................................... 3 p.m.
Saturday, May 27 (The American Digital Network)
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 (if necessary)................ 4:30 p.m.
Game 14 – Loser of Game 12 vs. Winner of Game 12 (if necessary)................ 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 28 (ESPNews)
Game 15 – Semifinal winners......................................................................... Noon
all times Eastern