IRVING, Texas – The Rice Owls will be the No.1 seed at the 2015 C-USA Championship presented by Petro Nissan here at Pete Taylor Park, May 20-24.

The Championship will feature the top eight teams in regular-season league play. The format is two double-elimination brackets with four teams each, with the winners of each bracket meeting in a single-elimination championship game.

The tournament will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday when No. 5 seed UTSA (32-23) faces No. 4 seed Middle Tennessee (30-24). The Roadrunners won two-of-three from the Blue Raiders in San Antonio two weekends ago.

Top-seeded Rice will open up against No. 8 seed FIU (25-29) at 12:30 p.m. CT. The Owls just won two-of-three from the Panthers this past weekend in Houston. Rice owns a 27-7 all-time record in the C-USA Championship.

Florida Atlantic (38-15) is participating in its first C-USA Baseball Championship and will be the No. 2 seed, playing the 4 p.m. CT game against No. 7 seed Old Dominion (27-27). The Owls took two-of-three from the Monarchs in Boca Raton in late April.

Host Southern Miss (35-16-1) is the No. 3 seed and the Golden Eagles will carry a 13-game winning streak into its first round matchup with No. 6 seed UAB (30-24) in the 7:30 p.m. CT game. Southern Miss downed the Blazers in two of three matchups in Hattiesburg the first weekend of April. The Golden Eagles have participated in all 20 C-USA Championships, while UAB will make its 16th appearance.

 Southern Miss Media Relations