Complete Notes
The American’s baseball teams are coming off a tremendous 10-1 nonconference showing last week that included a pair of wins over ranked opponents, as each team picked up at least one midweek victory. Tulane (19-22, 6-6) took two of three against East Tennessee State over the weekend to boost the conference’s 147-85-1 nonconference record. The league’s .634 nonconference winning percentage is the fourth-best among the 31 NCAA Division I conferences. The American will continue its midweek action with seven more games before gearing up for Week 6 of conference play.
The American is just one of three conferences (along the ACC and SEC) to have three top-20 RPI teams with ECU (30-9, 8-4) at No. 12, UConn (22-12-1, 7-5) at No. 13 and Wichita State (26-12, 4-8) at No. 20. Overall, the league owns the fourth-best RPI ranking among other conferences.
Four teams received a national ranking this week, as ECU returned to the top 10 for the second time this season. Featured in all five polls for a sixth-straight week, the Pirates were listed at No. 7 in Baseball America’s poll and were listed at No. 8 on three other polls. USF (26-14, 9-6) cracked the top 25 for the first time this year and received attention on four polls total with its highest ranking coming from Baseball America at No. 20. UConn came in at No. 20 on D1Baseball.com’s list and was featured in two other polls. The Shockers received national attention for an eighth-straight week, listed at No. 30 on NCBWA’s poll.
Two teams remain tied for the top spot in The American, as Houston (25-15, 10-5) and ECU each share a .667 conference winning percentage. The Cougars will enter the weekend in the No. 1 spot for a fourth straight week following a sweep over No. 24 Wichita State. Tied at 5-5 in the final frame of Game 2, OF Grayson Padgett hit his second walk-off home run of the season to give the Cougars the 6-5 series-clinching victory. Houston went on to win the series finale to hold onto its first place spot in the standings. Houston will head to Austin to face No. 19 Texas before the top of the conference standings clash when the Cougars head to Greenville to face ECU this weekend.
ECU swept Memphis on the road to catapult to first place in the conference’s standings. Starter Chris Holba earned his nation-leading ninth win of the season in a 5-1 Game 1 win before the Pirates used a pair of 4-2 wins to capture the series in a doubleheader sweep on Saturday. ECU took down No. 3 Duke last week for its seventh win over a ranked opponent.
USF is coming off a War on I-4 victory over UCF (27-14, 7-8) and will look to carry the momentum into Tuesday night when it hosts Bethune-Cookman. The Bulls cruised past the Wildcats 16-1 earlier this season (February 28), and a win would clinch their 10th series of the season. USF holds the league’s top offense, ranking No. 1 in batting average, slugging percentage, runs, hits, doubles, triples and RBIs. The Bulls’ 2.60 doubles per game are second in the nation, while their 104 doubles rank third.
UConn is on a roll, winning its last three conference series. The Huskies most recently took down former first-place Cincinnati on the road. Prior to that, UConn knocked off back-to-back ranked league opponents, including No. 20 Wichita State and No. 22 UCF. The Huskies will take a trip to Worcester, Mass. to face Holy Cross on Tuesday before returning to Storrs to host Rhode Island on Wednesday. UConn is 9-1 in its past 10 nonconference games and 4-1 at home this year.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, April 24
UConn at Holy Cross (Patriot League Network) - 5:05 p.m.
Bethune-Cookman at USF - 6:30 p.m.
Memphis at Murray State - 7 p.m.
Wichita State at Kansas (ESPN3) - 7 p.m.
Texas Southern at Tulane - 7:30 p.m.
Houston at Texas (Longhorn Network) - 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 25
Rhode Island at UConn - 3 p.m.
Friday, April 27
Kansas at Cincinnati - 6 p.m.
Wichita State at UCF * - 6:30 p.m.
Houston at ECU * - 6:30 p.m.
Tulane at UConn * - 7:05 p.m.
Memphis at USF * - 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 28
Tulane at UConn * - 2:05 p.m.
Houston at ECU * - 4 p.m.
Kansas at Cincinnati - 6 p.m.
Memphis at USF * - 6:30 p.m.
Wichita State at UCF * - 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 29
Tulane at UConn * - 1 p.m.
Kansas at Cincinnati - 1 p.m.
Houston at ECU * - 1 p.m.
Memphis at USF * - 1 p.m.
Wichita State at UCF * - 1 p.m.
All times ET & subject to change
* conference game