2018 Championship Central
2018 Championship Bracket
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Houston, which completed conference play last week by clinching its third American Athletic Conference regular-season title in four years, has earned the No. 1 seed for the 2018 American Athletic Conference Baseball Championship presented by Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.
The championship begins Tuesday, May 22, at Spectrum Field in Clearwater, Florida, and figures to be one of the most compelling conference tournaments in college baseball. All eight teams enter the tournament in the top 100 of the NCAA RPI, while The American ranks fourth among the nation's 31 Division I conferences in the RPI.
The 2018 tournament will be played in a double-elimination format through the semifinal round. The championship final is a winner-take-all matchup Sunday, May 27, which will determine The American’s automatic entrant to the NCAA Championship.
Live coverage of the first five days of the championship - as many as 14 games - will be provided by the American Digital Network Plus, the conference's new home for live events on the Facebook platform. The May 27 final will be televised at noon ET on ESPNews.
Houston (33-21) entered the 2018 season as the favorite in the American Athletic Conference race and the Cougars lived up to their billing by going 16-8 in conference games. Houston finished two wins ahead of any other team in The American as the Cougars won their second outright regular-season title and their first since 2015. The Cougars tied for the regular-season crown last season and went on to win The American Championship.
The Cougars will play their tournament opener Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET against No. 8-seeded Tulane (24-31).
USF won both ends of a doubleheader against Cincinnati Friday in the final day of its regular season, allowing the Bulls to take the No. 2 seed in the championship. USF went 14-9-1 in conference games, finishing percentage points ahead of UConn and ECU which tied for third at 14-10. USF will face No. 7-seeded Wichita State (34-19-1) Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET.
UConn (32-18-1) enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed for the third straight year. UConn won The American Championship from that spot in 2016 and reached the semifinals last season. UConn will begin tournament play Wednesday against Cincinnati (28-26), the No. 6 seed, at 3 p.m. ET, marking the second straight year that those teams will meet in their conference tournament opener.
The championship opener will feature ECU (39-15), the No. 4 seed, against No. 5-seeded UCF (35-19) at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday. The Pirates won the 2015 tournament and reached the final of last year's event with a dramatic run as the No. 8 seed. The Knights' regular-season ledger includes a pair of wins against top-ranked Florida in March.
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.
2018 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
SPECTRUM FIELD • CLEARWATER, FLA.
Tuesday, May 22 (American Digital Network)
Game 1 – No. 5 UCF (35-19) vs. No. 4 ECU (39-15).......................................................................... 3 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 8 Tulane (24-31) vs. No. 1 Houston (33-21)............................................................ 7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 23 (American Digital Network)
Game 3 – No. 7 Wichita State (34-19-1) vs. No. 2 USF (32-18-1)............................................... 11 a.m.
Game 4 – No. 6 Cincinnati (28-26) vs. No. 3 UConn (32-18-1).................................................... 3 p.m.
Game 5 – Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2............................................................................. 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 24 (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 25 (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 26 (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 27 (ESPNews)
Game 15 – Semifinal winners................................................................................................................. Noon
all times Eastern