MWC Baseball Weekly Press Release No. 13
The 2008 Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship will be hosted by TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, this week.
May 20, 2008
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MWC Baseball Weekly Press Release No. 13 
THIS WEEK IN THE MWC - CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK
The 2008 Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship will be hosted by TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, this week. Six MWC teams will compete in the double-elimination tournament May 20- 24 at Lupton Stadium.
No. 21 TCU captured its third consecutive regular season title and No. 1 seed to the tournament after finishing conference play with a 19-5 record. New Mexico and San Diego State finished tied for second in the league standings with 16-8 records. The Lobos will be the second seed in the tournament, with the Aztecs claiming the third seed by virtue of the Conference tie-breaking procedure. In head-to-head competition between the two schools New Mexico won two of three games over San Diego State earlier this season. BYU and Utah finished 10-14 in league play to tie for fourth in the Conference standings. The Cougars will be the fourth seed at next week's championship, while the fifth-seed belongs to the Utes based on BYU winning the conference series over Utah, 2-1. UNLV, 9-15 in MWC play, will be the sixth seed.
Here's a look at early round conference tournament match-ups:
- Tuesday, May 20 (all times CT)
- Game No. 1: No. 3 San Diego State vs. No. 6 UNLV, 3 p.m.
- All-Time Series: SDSU leads 48-37
- MWC Tournament Series: UNLV leads 7-1
- UNLV is 7-1 vs. San Diego State in MWC Tournament play, including an 8-5 victory in the 2006 championship. The Rebels are 19-11 all-time in the MWC Tournament, winning the championship in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The Aztecs, the 2000 MWC Tournament champions, have an all-time record of 20-14 in the tournament.
- Game No. 2 7 p.m. No. 4 BYU vs. No. 5 Utah
- All-Time Series: BYU leads 208-91-1
- MWC Tournament Series: BYU leads 3-2
- BYU is 3-2 vs. Utah in MWC Tournament play. The two teams last met in the 2006 MWC Championship, with the Cougars winning 9-8. BYU is 20-14 all-time, while Utah is 7-16.
- Wednesday, May 21
- Game No. 3: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, 11 a.m.
- Game No. 4: No. 2 New Mexico vs. Highest seed to advance from Tue., 3 p.m.
- New Mexico is 10-16 all-time in the Conference tournament and is a No. 2 seed for the first time since
the 2004 season.
- Game No. 5: No. 1 TCU vs. Lowest seed to advance from Tue., 7 p.m.
- Two-time defending tournament champion TCU is 6-0 in MWC Tournament play all-time.
TCU TO HOST 2008 PHILLIPS 66 MWC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
The 2008 Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament will be hosted by TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, and will be played at Charlie and Marie Lupton Stadium and Williams-Reilly Field on the TCU campus.
Constructed in 2001 and 2002, the state-of-the-art ballpark is widely-regarded as one of the premier facilities in all of college baseball. The Lupton Stadium seating capacity is 3,500 and has been the Horned Frogs home field since the 2003 season.
PHILLIPS 66 MWC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE TELEVISED LIVE ON THE MTN.
For the second consecutive year, the entire Phillips 66 Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship will be televised live, with The Mtn. - MountainWest Sports Network and CBS College Sports (CBS C) providing the coverage. All 10 of the tournament games will be shown live on The Mtn., with the championship game to be broadcast to a national audience via same-day tape delay on CBS C, Friday, May 23, at 10:30 p.m. CT. The `If Necessary" contest will also be shown via same-day tape delay on CBS C, Saturday, May 24, at 7 p.m. CT. The 2008 Phillips 66 MWC Baseball Championship will be held May 20-24 at Lupton Stadium on the campus of TCU.
To supplement the television coverage, live audio from institutional radio broadcasts will be available on the MWC Web site, along with live stats. To access both the live audio and live stats, go to www.TheMWC.com.
SDSU'S STRASBURG NAMED SEMIFINALIST FOR PAIR OF NATIONAL AWARDS
San Diego State sophomore right-hander Stephen Strasburg has been named a semifinalist for the 2008 Dick Howser Trophy and the Roger Clemens Award announced May 15. Strasburg, from San Diego, Calif., is 8-2 on the season with a 1.59 earned run average. His 128 strikeouts have come in just 90.1 innings pitched. This season he has set a new MWC record for strikeouts in conference games with 92 and finished league play with a 0.63 ERA to set a new all-time league mark.
THREE MWC STUDENT-ATHLETES NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Three MWC baseball student-athletes were named ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). TCU's Hunt Woodruff and Clint Arnold were first-team District 6 selections, while New Mexico's Bobby Moore was a second-team District 6 honoree. Woodruff has a 3.81 grade-point average in pre-medicine, while Arnold, a communications major, is maintaining a 3.58 GPA. Moore, a finance major, has a 3.33 overall grade-point average.
AIR FORCE'S JOSH MEENTS NAMED FINALIST FOR LOWE'S SENIOR CLASS AWARD
Air Force's Josh Meents is one of 10 NCAA Division I collegiate baseball student-athletes who excel both on and off the field and was announced as a finalist for the 2008 Lowe's Senior CLASS (Celebrating, Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School) Award in the baseball division on April 16. The finalists were chosen from a list of 30 candidates based on personal qualities that define a complete student-athlete. These four primary areas of criteria include the "Four C's" of classroom, character, community and competition. The ten names will be placed on the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award baseball ballot for a nationwide vote which includes coaches, media and fans. The award winner will be announced and recognized at the 2008 NCAA® Men's College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
