After clinching a share of the Conference USA title on Friday night, the Rice Owls faltered on Saturday, losing 7-3 to Southern Miss. The loss to the Golden Eagles left both teams with a 16-8 conference record, meaning Rice will have to settle for the CUSA title share, rather than an outright win.
What does it mean beyond that for the Owls? Not a whole lot. Rice still finished the regular season winning 10 of their last 12 games heading into the CUSA Championship beginning May 25 in Pearl, Mississippi. They will hold the number one seed in the tournament and face the eighth-seeded UAB Blazers on Wednesday.
The Houston Cougars, in stark contrast to their recent outings - ended the regular season on a high note with a 14-0 road-shellacking of Memphis. The Cougars racked up 16 hits and rolled up a seven-run inning in the sixth en route to their largest margin of victory on the season.
The win gives Houston some forward momentum heading into the CUSA Championship, where they will be the sixth seed. Houston will face third-seeded East Carolina on Wednesday.
The full seedings for Wednesday's Conference USA Championship look like this:
1. Rice
2. Southern Mississippi
3. East Carolina
4. UCF
5. Memphis
6. Houston
7. Tulane
8. UAB