March 16, 2008

Updated Extended Standings in PDF Format

It was quite a successful week in Conference USA. Six teams went undefeated on the week and the league's nine teams posted a combined record of 35-6 (.853). Four teams ended the week with winning streaks of five games or longer and seven of the league's schools are winning at a .600 clip or better.

Led by the red-hot hitting of Nate Lape, Marshall swept back-to-back series over Valparaiso and VMI on the week. The three wins at VMI this weekend represented the first series sweep on the road for the Thundering Herd in two years.

East Carolina ran its winning streak to 12 games by sweeping Rhode Island. During the Pirates' 12-game winning streak, the Pirates are hitting .345 with 16 home runs, 140 hits and slugging .542. They have outscored their opponents 120-53. ECU's pitching staff has posted a 3.55 ERA during the winning streak with 98 strikeouts and 8 walks.

At 16-1, UCF is off to the best one-loss start in Conference USA history, topping the 2005 Tulane team that went on to the College World Series. It was the fourth straight series sweep for the Knights, which they had not done since 2001.

Tulane not only swept Oakland in a three-game series, they posted three straight shutouts. It was the second straight season that the Green Wave did not allow a run in an entire three-game series, as Tulane blanked Siena in three straight outings last March.

Southern Miss found the friendly confines of Pete Taylor Park to be to its liking as it won the Coca-Cola Classic Tournament. The Golden Eagles sandwiched a pair of wins over Cal State Northridge around a shutout victory over Liberty to finish a 4-0 week.

Rice ran its winning streak to four by breaking out the bats in a weekend sweep of Winthrop. The Owls scored double-digit runs in all three games against the Eagles, outscoring them 32-12.

Houston is 12-6 after taking two-of-three from San Francisco at Cougar Field, while Memphis dropped a pair of one-run games to Southeast Missouri before posting a shutout victory on Sunday.