The following is a sports column by Rick Cleveland from The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

Tickets for the Governor’s Cup Game at Trustmark Park Tuesday night were scaled from $10 to $28. This was for college baseball.

Don’t think those prices, in this bleak economy, scared anyone off. All were sold by Monday. The announced crowd was 7,458, standing room only. For a midweek game. That doesn’t count in the standings.

People ask me what have been the biggest changes in the 40-plus years I’ve covered sports in Mississippi: Read the rest of this entry »

Jimmy Comerota

One month into the conference season it is shaping up to be a very interesting race. Second-ranked Rice and No. 17 East Carolina are now tied for first place. Southern Miss and Houston follow behind in third and fourth, respectively. But, just two game separate the fourth and eight place teams, so much movement will likely occur over the next five weeks as teams jockey for seeding in the C-USA Championship in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, May 20-24. Read the rest of this entry »

Drew Allain

It was a breakout week for Tulane senior OF Drew Allain and he rewarded for his strong efforts at the plate by being named the Conference USA Hitter of the Week. The Pitcher of the Week award went to East Carolina sophomore RHP Seth Maness who earned a win over No. 3 Rice with a career-best performance. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

Mike Ojala

The showdown series of the weekend occurred in Greenville, where No. 3 Rice visited No. 15 East Carolina. After Rice won a wild offensive show on Friday night, 15-11, Seth Maness pitched a gem for ECU on Saturday, firing a complete-game, three-hitter to lead the Pirates to a 4-1 win. That set the stage for Sunday’s showdown for the series victory and first place in the conference standings. Mike Ojala returned to the mound after missing his previous two starts and led the Owls to a 5-4 victory with 10 strikeouts in five innings pitched. Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Wallace

After making a quick return from injury, Houston’s Chris Wallace was outstanding at the plate in leading Houston to a 4-0 week, garnering him Conference USA Hitter of the Week honors. The Pitcher of the Week award went to Southern Miss’ Seth Hester who threw a rare midweek complete game victory for the Golden Eagles. Read the rest of this entry »

Kiko Vazquez

It was a weekend of big innings and high scoring games around Conference USA. East Carolina and Rice both swept their series, keeping the Pirates one game up in the conference standings as the two teams prepare to meet next weekend in Greenville. Southern Miss took two-of-three from Marshall in a close series where four total runs separated the teams. UCF earned its first series victory of the season by winning the final two games at Memphis and Houston extended its winning streak to six games by sweeping a non-conference series against Texas-Pan American. Read the rest of this entry »

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

Luke Stewart

East Carolina’s Brad Mincey is the Conference USA Pitcher of the Week after he picked up two victories for the first place Pirates during last week’s action. The Hitter of the Week honor is being shared by Southern Miss SS Brian Dozier and UAB 1B Luke Stewart after both players registered big weekends at the plate in leading their teams to series sweeps. Read the rest of this entry »

James Ewing

Southern Miss was the only team to post a series sweep in Conference USA play this weekend as the Golden Eagles took three in a row at UCF. After posting a 6-2 win in the opener on Friday, the Golden Eagles broke out the bats in a big way during a Saturday doubleheader, scoring 45 total runs. The 26 runs scored in game one established a new USM school record. Senior SS Brian Dozier led the way in the twin-bill, combining to go six-for-nine with two home runs, seven runs, nine RBI, 12 total bases, two walks and a sacrifice fly. Read the rest of this entry »

Kyle Roller

After the opening weekend of Conference USA play, East Carolina is the lone unbeaten team. The Pirates continued their offensive explosion in a three-game sweep of UCF. Houston, Marshall and Rice each won two-of-three during the opening weekend of league play. ECU is now ranked in three of the four major polls, coming in as high as No. 20, while Rice ris ranked as high as No. 4 this week. Read the rest of this entry »

Ryan Berry

Rice junior RHP Ryan Berry becomes the first player in Conference USA history to earn Pitcher of the Week honors in three consecutive weeks after he shut down No. 20 San Diego last Friday for this third straight nearly flawless outing. The Hitter of the Week honor went to UAB junior C Digger Towe, who piled up huge numbers while leading UAB to a 6-0 record last week. Read the rest of this entry »

Digger Towe

UAB had to battle rain all weekend, playing its series against Harvard in two different states, but in the end the Blazers had a four-game sweep of the Crimson and a six-game winning streak. The two clubs played a single game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday in Pensacola, Fla., while Sunday’s series finale was played in Vestavia, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham. When it was over, the UAB bats had a big weekend, out-scoring Harvard, 53-14 and posting at least 11 runs in all four outings. Read the rest of this entry »

Sam Honeck

The third full week of non-conference play is on tap this week in Conference USA Baseball. Rice has a four-game series against No. 20 San Diego from Thursday-Sunday in Houston. Tulane visits No. 10 UC Irvine for a three-game set next weekend and Marshall hosts No. 21 Kent State in a mid-week matchup as C-USA teams try to prove themselves against top-notch competition. Read the rest of this entry »