TicketsBaseball Picked 10th in C-USA Poll
Bearcats open season Feb. 11
Contact: Shawn Sell
1/19/2005
Jack Nelson is one of UC's top returning players for 2005. |
AUSTIN, Texas ? The University of Cincinnati baseball team, which welcomes back 16 letterwinners for the 2005 season, has been picked to finish 10th in Conference USA this spring in a poll of the league?s coaches.
Tulane, selected recently by Baseball America as the No. 1 team in the country, was a unanimous choice as the preseason favorite to win the C-USA title. TCU, who captured last season?s conference tournament title, was picked second, with the league?s defending regular season champs, East Carolina, picked third. Southern Miss and Houston rounded out the top five.
?Clearly, our expectations for this season our higher than the poll indicates,? said Bearcat head coach Brian Cleary. ?I think being selected where we were is a function of our struggles of the last two years. I believe that Conference USA will be as strong as ever this season as evidenced by Tulane?s ranking.?
The Bearcats will kick off their 2005 campaign with a three-game series at Florida Atlantic Feb. 11-13. UC opens the home portion of the slate March 4-6, when they host Cleveland State in the UC Baseball stadium.
ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM P, J.R. Crowel (Tulane) P, Patrick Ezell (Southern Miss) P, Casey Hudspeth (USF) RP, Brian Halford (Louisville) C, Greg Dini (Tulane) IF, Shelby Ford (TCU) IF, Marc Maddox (Southern Miss) IF, Tommy Manzella (Tulane) IF, Mark Minicozzi (East Carolina) OF, Matt Barket (Tulane) OF, Chad Huffman (TCU) OF, Travis Tully (Houston) UT, Brian Bogusevic (Tulane)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR Brian Bogusevic (Tulane)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR Patrick Ezell (Southern Miss)
PREDICTED FINISH 1. Tulane (12) 2. TCU 3. East Carolina 4. Southern Miss 5. Houston 6. USF 7. Louisville 8. UAB 9. Charlotte 10. CINCINNATI 11. Memphis 12. Saint Louis