Alabama-Birmingham
The Blazers are coming off a 12-12 record in Conference USA last season, tying UH and Memphis for fourth in the conference. Junior outfielder Phil Bell (.336 AVG, 3 HR, 37 RBI in 2007) will be the key offensive player for UAB and sophomore Shay Crawford (4-4, 5.86 ERA, 28 K in 2007) will lead the pitching.
Central Florida
UCF finished the 2007 season 7-17 in the C-USA and will have to play hard to keep up. Junior pitcher Justin Weiss (4-1, 1.38 ERA, 30 K) leads the hurlers and junior Kiko Vazquez (.364 AVG, 9 HR, 57RBI) will provide the power.
East Carolina
The Pirates enter the season ranked 24th by Baseball America and will look to improve on their second-place finish (14-9) in C-USA last year.
Team leaders will be junior infielder Stephen Batts (.323 AVG, 6 HR, 56 RBI) and senior pitcher T.J. Hose (6-5, 3.97 ERA, 70 K).
Marshall
The Herd finished last in 11 C-USA offensive categories and six pitching categories. Key returnees are senior outfielder Jeff Rowley (.319 AVG, 3 HR, 21 RBI) and junior pitcher Andrew Blain (4-3, 5.59 ERA, 47 K).
Memphis
Memphis ended its season 12-12 in C-USA and beat UH 12-4 in the conference championships. Junior Scott McGregor (5-4, 6.63 ERA, 35 K) will lead the pitching staff, while K.K. Chalmers (.289 AVG, 7 HR, 38 RBI) will guide the offense.
Rice
Ranked 14th by Baseball America, Rice will not go down easily. Sophomore Ryan Berry (11-3, 3.01 ERA, 125 K) will lead the pitching staff and sophomore Diego Seastrunk (.304 AVG, 1 HR, 42 RBI)will lead the offense.
Southern Miss
The Golden Eagles had a strong season in 2007, finishing 14-10 in the conference and advancing to the NCAA Regionals. Senior pitcher, Barry Bowden (7-4, 3.11 ERA, 86 K) will be the team’s No. 1 pitcher and senior first baseman Trey Sutton (.368 AVG, 8 HR, 38 RBI) will lead the offense.
Tulane
Although Tulane finished 9-15 in C-USA last season, it returns as one of the strongest teams in the conference, ranked 22 by Baseball America.
The Green Wave is led by junior pitcher Shooter Hunt (6-6, 2.62 ERA, 104 K) and junior outfielder Warren McFadden (.296 AVG, 4 HR, 34 RBI).
