It will be Southern Miss and TCU in the championship game of the 2004 Conference USA Baseball Tournament, presented by Sterling Bank. Southern Miss advanced to the championship game for the second straight season with a 9-7 win over UAB. Jason Lowery hit a grand slam, Marc Maddox had a home run and three RBI and Jarrett Hoffpauir hit his third homer of the day to spark the Golden Eagles offense. TCU earned its spot in the title tilt when Kyle Dahlberg's single up the middle scored Shelby Ford. Austin Adams, who had three home runs in the regular season, hit his fourth homer of the tournament.

A pair of amazing seventh inning comebacks have set up semifinal rematches. Trailing 3-1, Austin Adams launched a towering grand slam that helped lift TCU to an 8-3 win over Houston. Ryan Weems starred on the mound for the Horned Frogs, throwing a complete-game. In the first semi, Southern Miss erased a 10-5 deficit with an 11-run seventh inning to defeat UAB, 16-10, and force a second semifinal matchup between the clubs at 4:00 p.m. Jarrett Hoffpauir led the offensive fireworks with two home runs and six RBI. Jason Lowery added a pair of hits and three RBI.

CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT NOTES

GENERAL NOTES
This is the second-highest scoring tournament in C-USA history. A total of 198 runs have been scored in this tournament. Only the league’s inaugural tournament in 1996 in Hattiesburg produced more (250).

The tournament produced three straight one-run games on Thursday, had back-to-back bottom of the ninth inning rallies (UAB and Houston on Thursday), saw a game decided on a wild pitch for the first time in tournament history (UAB defeating Memphis) and also saw a record three games called due to the conference’s 10-run rule. Saturday night’s TCU-Houston game marked the third game won in the final at-bat in this tournament.

This is only the second time in C-USA Tournament history that two teams swept a pair of games on Saturday to reach the championship. Tulane and USF accomplished the feat in 2001.

Southern Miss’ Jarrett Hoffpauir and TCU’s Austin Adams have each broken the C-USA Tournament record for home runs in a series with four.

SOUTHERN MISS
Southern Miss has advanced to the championship game for the second year in a row. It is the first time in school history that USM has played in back-to-back conference tournament title games.

Southern Miss will attempt to become the first C-USA team since Tulane in 1998-99 to win back-to-back tournament titles. The Golden Eagles defeated Tulane last year, 7-5.

USM has already set the C-USA team tournament records for home runs (15) and RBI (54) in the tournament.

Southern Miss has scored 33 of its 59 runs in the tournament via home run balls.

TCU
This will be TCU’s first championship since falling to Rice in the title game at the 1999 WAC Tournament.

TCU becomes the eighth different Conference USA school to play in the tournament championship game in the league’s first nine seasons.

The four home runs in this tournament by Austin Adams is a new C-USA Tourney record. Adams, a TCU football player that walked on to the baseball team in the spring and did not play fall ball, entered the tournament with just three home runs all season.

TCU is attempting to become the second team in C-USA Tournament history to lose its first game and then win five straight to win the tournament (Tulane did it in 2001 with their College World Series team).


Conference USA Baseball Tournament
(Houston, Texas)

Wed., May 26
Game One
(6) Memphis 10, (3) Southern Miss 5
Game Two
(7) UAB 10, (2) Tulane 4
Game Three
(1) East Carolina 13, (8) Louisville 2
Game Four
(5) Houston 9, (4) TCU 5

Thu., May 27
Game Five
Southern Miss 16, Tulane 4
Game Six
TCU 4, Louisville 3
Game Seven
UAB 6, Memphis 4
Game Eight
Houston 6, East Carolina 5

Fri., May 28
Game Nine
Southern Miss 13, Memphis 0
Game Ten
TCU 10, East Carolina 4

Sat., May 29
Game Eleven
Southern Miss 16, UAB 10
Game Twelve
TCU 8, Houston 3
Game Thirteen
Southern Miss 9, UAB 7
Game Twelve
TCU 5, Houston 4

Sun., May 30
Championship Game 1:00p