Jackson Free Press

The Conference-USA Baseball Championship comes to Trustmark Park in Pearl for the second year in a row. The championship starts today (Wednesday, May 23) until the championship game Sunday, when the best of C-USA will be on display.

Last year's championship featured some exciting baseball and was an enjoyable event. Anyone looking for a sporting event to attend over the holiday weekend wouldn't go wrong by attending a game or two.

Defending champion Rice is the top seed once again out of the eight seeds that make it to Pearl. Southern Miss is the fourth seed in the tournament.

Like last year, the C-USA Baseball Championship is using a pod system that guarantees each team will play three games. The two teams with the best record in their pod will meet in the title game. If there is a tie between two teams, the team with the higher seed will advance.

Games times are 11 a.m., 3 p.m., and 7 p.m. from Wednesday through Saturday. The CBS Sports Network is set to televise the 1 p.m. Sunday Championship Game.

The winner of this tournament gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Regional Baseball Tournament. Many think Rice will make the NCAA Tournament, win or lose. USM will need a strong showing, but more than likely it will win the tournament to make the post season.

Southern Miss plays Wednesday at 11 a.m. against fifth seed Memphis to kick off the tournament. The Golden Eagles next play at 3 p.m. Thursday against eighth seed Houston.

Friday is an off day for USM, which will finish guaranteed games against top seed Rice at 7 p.m. Saturday. If Southern Miss wins its first two games, the team could play for a spot in the finals when they meet Rice.

All games from Wednesday through Saturday will be streamed on ConferenceUSA.com. Purchase tickets from Ticketmaster.com or call 888-Brave$4.