State Bragging Rights on the Line in Super Regional

As a former student at East Carolina University, I can only hope that the misfortunes of the Atlantic Coast Conference continue into today's slate of games. Florida State and Virginia both lost yesterday to start the super regional round. Though, the only Conference-USA team to play yesterday was Rice and they lost to LSU 12-9.

The ACC also has Clemson still alive in the tournament, they are playing at Arizona State today at 9 pm eastern time. The winner of that series will play the winner of the East Carolina/ North Carolina series to start the College World Series in Omaha.

Conference-USA also has Southern Mississippi in the field of 16. They are playing at Florida starting today at 3 pm eastern time. This is the first time Southern Miss has made it to the Super Regional round, they took out ACC team, Georgia Tech in the Regional round.

This is the first time ever that three Conference-USA teams have made it to the Super Regional round in the same year. All three teams are playing a power conference team in this round (two SEC teams, one ACC team).

Rice has been a baseball powerhouse for years out of Conference-USA, as this is the fifth straight year that they have made it to the Super Regional round. They will really need to step it up if they want to go to Omaha, as they cannot lose again to LSU, or else they are eliminated. Southern Miss has virtually no history in baseball, as like I previously stated, this is their first-ever trip to the round of 16.

East Carolina is playing in their first Super Regional since 2004, when they played at South Carolina. But this year, the stakes are higher. The Pirates get a shot at in-state rival, North Carolina, for a chance to demand respect for their school and their conference. A writer for the Raleigh News & Observer, Caulton Tudor, called the pressure on the Pirates the "'Retha Effect." As in Aretha Franklin with her hit, "Respect."

The Pirates want that respect from the bigger ACC schools in North Carolina, and the best way for them to earn it is by taking out a rival school with a trip to the College World Series. UNC has failed to win it all in dramatic fashion in recent years, to get knocked out by a smaller in-state team, would be the perfect blow for Pirate Nation to boast about for the rest of the year, or at least until the two teams meet on the gridiron September 19th in Chapel Hill, which was just set for a noon kickoff to accommodate an ESPN national broadcast.

For now, these two teams will battle for state dominance on the field with the stakes higher than ever. Let the Super Regional games begin!