Niner Nuggets- Week 12

Before we dive in to this week, lets take a moment to recognize some 49ers that were scheduled to graduate this weekend. UNC Charlotte graduation is going on this weekend but our guys will be down in Miami taking on FIU, so they were honored on Saturday at the Hayes. The graduates that were honored were Breven Yarbro, AJ Wilson, Paxton Thompson, Evan Michelson, Matt Little, Collin Kramer, Blake Jackson, Aubrey Gillentine, and Will Butcher. Congrats guys!

Now on to baseball. Things are coming down to the wire in the 49ers’ final season in Conference USA. With just 2 weeks left in the regular season, teams have turned their eyes to Houston, the site of the 2023 Conference USA Tournament. Charlotte is one of four teams that have already punched their ticket for Houston, joined by DBU, UTSA, and LaTech.

Charlotte currently sits in 3rd place in the league, 6 games back of 2nd place UTSA. Mathematically, the Niners could still end up as high as 2nd in the league with a hot finish and some help.

This weekend, DBU & UTSA match up in a series in San Antonio that will likely determine the 1 and 2 seeds in the tournament. Charlotte will travel down to last place FIU this weekend for the final time. They will likely need 3 wins to remain in the 3rd position at the end of the week. LaTech is 0.5 games behind CLT in 4th and they travel to FAU this weekend. FAU is just 1 game behind Latech and is tied with WKU & MTSU at 12-12 in conference play. MTSU host UAB and WKU hosts Rice this weekend. The 3 seed and the 7 seed are currently separated by 1.5 games.

Rice is the tournament host this year and is fighting to maintain a spot as one of the 8 teams that qualify. They currently are hanging on to the 8th seed by 1 game over UAB, and 2 games ahead of FIU.

Lots to get sorted out in the final 2 weeks of play. Projections have shown that DBU & UTSA could qualify for at-large bids ,with DBU safely in the NCAA Tournament. Here are the standings and latest RPI for the league.