"C-USA was left with two baseball-playing schools in FIU and Louisiana Tech. Tech’s absence from the Sun Belt talk was interesting to say the least considering its brand power in the State of Louisiana. With that said, C-USA, for the time being, is back in business from a baseball perspective.
What is the league getting with these four programs?
Jacksonville State last reached the NCAA tournament in 2019 but has a solid facility to draw to with a bigger brand name conference-wise than the Ohio Valley Conference. New Mexico State has some obvious regional hurdles, but Mike Kirby is a seasoned coach and athletic director Mario Moccia plays high value on having a good college baseball program. NMSU has undergone some impressive facility renovations the past few seasons.
Liberty and Sam Houston are the cream of the crop out of this group from a baseball perspective. The Flames have a great coach in Scott Jackson, have one of the nation’s — yes, I said nation — premier facilities and the program has reached the NCAA tournament two of the last three seasons. Then, there’s perennial mid-major power Sam Houston. The Bearkats haven’t reached the NCAA tournament since making a Super Regional in 2017 and went 30-25 last season in Jay Sirianni’s second campaign. As with new conference mate Liberty, SHSU plays high value on baseball, has a good fan base and has a terrific recruiting base with Dallas a couple of hours northwest and Houston just 45 minutes away from Huntsville.
The addition of JSU, Liberty, NMSU and Sam Houston to C-USA is unlikely to be the last domino to fall in the ongoing realignment saga. The league would sit at six members at MTSU and WKU head to the MAC. So, what happens if someone decides to pluck Louisiana Tech and FIU away, giving the league just four baseball-playing members? That scenario is unlikely, but we’ve all learned to never say never."
What is the league getting with these four programs?
Jacksonville State last reached the NCAA tournament in 2019 but has a solid facility to draw to with a bigger brand name conference-wise than the Ohio Valley Conference. New Mexico State has some obvious regional hurdles, but Mike Kirby is a seasoned coach and athletic director Mario Moccia plays high value on having a good college baseball program. NMSU has undergone some impressive facility renovations the past few seasons.
Liberty and Sam Houston are the cream of the crop out of this group from a baseball perspective. The Flames have a great coach in Scott Jackson, have one of the nation’s — yes, I said nation — premier facilities and the program has reached the NCAA tournament two of the last three seasons. Then, there’s perennial mid-major power Sam Houston. The Bearkats haven’t reached the NCAA tournament since making a Super Regional in 2017 and went 30-25 last season in Jay Sirianni’s second campaign. As with new conference mate Liberty, SHSU plays high value on baseball, has a good fan base and has a terrific recruiting base with Dallas a couple of hours northwest and Houston just 45 minutes away from Huntsville.
The addition of JSU, Liberty, NMSU and Sam Houston to C-USA is unlikely to be the last domino to fall in the ongoing realignment saga. The league would sit at six members at MTSU and WKU head to the MAC. So, what happens if someone decides to pluck Louisiana Tech and FIU away, giving the league just four baseball-playing members? That scenario is unlikely, but we’ve all learned to never say never."
