Covering Your Bases

It's been a longer gap than normal, so let's get caught up on what we have to SHOUT about today...

The BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP has arrived! That's right--play begins this afternoon from the minor league park in Danville, VA (Liberty University is the host school). The Tuesday "A-B" games will eliminate two of the four lowest seeds right out of the gate, with the highest four seeds waiting on the winners to join them in the double-elimination phase of the tournament that starts Wednesday morning. If it seems confusing, get your hands on a bracket (available here) to sort it out.

Game A has #6 Radford facing #7 Charleston Southern.

Game B has #5 High Point against #8 UNC Asheville.

For Wednesday, Game 1 (11am) has #1 Coastal Carolina--the regular season champions (pictured)--taking on the lowest surviving seed from the Tuesday games.

Game 2 (3pm) has #2 Liberty--the host team--playing the highest surviving seed of Tuesday's competition.

The third game of the day for Wednesday sees #3 VMI and #4 Winthrop go head-to-head.

From there it's three more games on Thursday and three on Friday to set up the concluding Saturday with one or two games (as needed) to determine the 2008 Big South Conference Baseball Champion.

And yes, each and every game can be seen on The Big South EDGE--order the tournament by the day or get the full event for one affordable price! The Baseball Championship games are the only events left on the 2007-08 streaming schedule.

Meanwhile...

Winthrop defeated Liberty to win the softball title last week, earning a spot in the NCAA and the loaded Knoxville Regional: Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Louisville--and the Lady Eagles got K-O'd in K-ville for the second year in a row.

17 of 18 Big South Champs have been crowned, with Liberty holding 8, Coastal and Winthrop each with 3, and one each for Radford, High Point, and Charleston Southern. That leaves just VMI and UNCA without a crown for the season and only one remaining to fight for now...of the two, VMI would seemingly have the better chance, coming from the 3-seed slot while UNCA would need to climb from the disadvantageous 8-seed position. The Keydets have never owned a Big South Championship in any sport, so they're trying to reverse a significant trend.

What do you think about the last championship of the year?

Vote your selection in the Big South SHOUT poll, running through Saturday!

Another SHOUT coming your way soon...