March 5, 2010

Houston is hub this weekend in college baseball

Put three nationally-ranked teams from the area in a beautiful major league ballpark and you have what should be a great weekend of college baseball.

No. 4 Texas, No. 8 TCU and No. 19 Rice join Houston, Missouri and Texas Tech in the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park. The Longhorns and the Owls meet to highlight Friday’s schedule. Rice and TCU play in the finale on Sunday evening.

There are three series in the unofficial ACC/SEC Challenge. The best will be in South Florida, as No. 7 Florida visits No. 12 Miami (Fla.). No. 10 Clemson goes against South Carolina, while No. 3 Florida State entertains Georgia.

In the Southwest, No. 5 Arizona State and No. 14 Oregon State participate in the Coca-Cola Classic in Surprise, Ariz., with Cal Poly, FIU, UC Riverside and Utah Valley. The Sun Devils and the Beavers battle on Friday.

Also on the West Coast will be No. 16 Arkansas at California and Nebraska at No. 17 UCLA.

There are two interesting tournaments in the Carolinas. No. 9 Coastal Carolina welcomes Albany, Ball State, Pittsburgh and Toledo to the Caravelle Resort Invitational. No. 18 East Carolina brings in Illinois, West Virginia and Western Carolina for the Keith LeClair Invitational.

Other interesting series have Le Moyne at Louisville, Michigan at No. 13 North Carolina, Alabama at College of Charleston, Bethune-Cookman at Troy, FGCU at Wichita State, Cal State Fullerton at Arizona, New Mexico at USC and Oregon at Fresno State.

Enjoy the games!

(photo courtesy of TCU Media Relations Office)