Regular-season title, top six seeds up for grabs entering final weekend of League baseball season
May 16, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
INDIANAPOLIS --- Entering the final weekend of the Horizon League baseball regular season, the regular-season champion and the top six seeds are still to be determined, with seven League games scheduled to be played today and Saturday.
Wright State University (27-20, 16-6) sits atop the Horizon League standings, having completed its League schedule last weekend. The Raiders, who are bidding for their first League regular-season title since 1997, will play a three-game non-conference set at home against New Jersey Institute of Technology today through Sunday. Last year, Wright State finished second in the regular-season and lost to the University of Illinois at Chicago in the championship game.
Second-place UIC (28-19, 14-6) -- the six-time defending regular-season champion -- must play and win all three of its scheduled games at home against Valparaiso University tonight and Saturday to secure the number-one seed. Three victories would give the Flames a 17-6 record, which would be a half-game better than Wright State. If UIC plays and wins only two games against Valpo due to inclement weather and ties Wright State for the regular-season crown at 16-6, the Raiders would be the top seed by virtue of winning three of five games against the Flames this season.
Youngstown State University (23-30, 13-11) is in third place and has won four straight after sweeping a League doubleheader Thursday from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Miller Park. The Penguins can guarantee themselves the third seed with a victory over the Panthers this afternoon and can finish no worse than fifth in the final League standings.
Fourth-place Cleveland State University (20-27, 9-11) and fifth-place Valparaiso (18-30, 8-10) each can finish anywhere from third place to sixth. The Vikings will play a single game today and a doubleheader Saturday at Butler University (10-32, 5-16) to conclude the regular season. Milwaukee (20-34, 10-15) enters today's action in sixth place but -- depending on the outcomes of CSU's and Valpo's games -- could finish as high as fourth with a victory today over Youngstown State and even fifth with a loss.
Butler is in seventh place and can not move up in the standings. As the seventh seed, the Bulldogs will play the sixth seed in the single-elimination first-round game of the 2008 Horizon League Baseball Championship next Tuesday (May 20) in Niles, Ohio. Youngstown State will host the championship through May 25 at Eastwood Field, home of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the Minor League's New York-Penn League. The Penguins won the tournament on their home field in 2004 as the seventh seed.
For current League standings, the weekend schedule and seeding possibilities, click on the PDF link above.
