Conference USA Tournament Preview

After being hosted by Southern Miss for the last three years, the Conference USA baseball tournament is getting a change of scenery in 2017. MGM Park is set to host the event for the first time next month. Today, officials held a press conference to preview the start of a new tradition.
If the Golden Eagles are to repeat as Conference USA Tournament champions, they’ll have to do so away from the magic of Pete Taylor Park. Overtime Sports Owner and Biloxi Shuckers Co-Owner Tim Bennett said, “We’re about an hour away from Hattiesburg, which is kind of home for them, but this is a truly neutral setting. It’s a beautiful facility and every school will have the same opportunity to win the big game.”
Last year, Southern Miss won the big game for the first time since 2010. Gulfport Mayor and USM alum Billy Hewes was in the house on that championship Sunday and left the ball park with a story to tell. “That really was the most phenomenal ending to a baseball game I have ever seen. Google it if you haven’t seen it. It’s a double relay right in for the tag at home for the win. That was very cool.”
Also cool was the tournament MVP award going to Gulfport alum Daniel Keating. Other local players on USM’s roster are former Admiral Alex Nelms and Pascagoula alum Tracy Hadley, all the more reason to expect a monster crowd at MGM Park. Pascagoula Mayor Jim Blevins said, “We hope very much that Southern Miss is going to be here and I’m confident they will. They’ve got a great team this year. They’re doing very well at this time and we have some awesome supporters all along the Coast.
“If Southern Miss continues to have the success it is having, you know baseball is a funny thing, but we’ve got a lot of confidence in our team with Daniel Keating, a local boy, Alex Nelms, we’re excited for them coming home and showing us their stuff.”
“Obviously them winning and having so much of their fan base here is going to be beneficial, but we’ve got to be neutral. We’ve got to hope that the best team wins in the end, but having Southern Miss do as well as they are doing certainly helps.”
Right now the Black and Gold are in line for the tournament’s top seed, but either way the event practically sells itself. “It’s a great showcase for the whole Gulf Coast. Cities from Moss Point to Pascagoula and clear over to Bay St. Louis and everything in between. We all support it. We’re here,” said Blevins.
“I think this is going to be one of the most picturesque parks in the NCAA, wherever they’re playing. I think this is going to be the park that when they show Omaha, whoever wins, they’re going to show this setting at least once or twice,” said Bennett.
Not to mention 13 mayors from across South Mississippi are teaming up with local charities throughout the tournament. “The fact that we’re taking a piece of each ticket, one dollar from each ticket sold for the entire tournament and giving it back to charity, that means everybody wins. There won’t be any losers in this scenario,” said Bennett.
“You’ve got a great cause. You’ve got a great venue. You’ve got an opportunity to take off and go enjoy a baseball game and in the process do some good for the youth,” said Hewes.
“What I’m most excited about is it’s just the beginning of baseball season and I’m here to have a nice hot dog and a soda and enjoy the game with the great weather and maybe catch a ball now and then,” said Blevins.
Bennett says he expects the economic impact of the tournament to be right on par with Cruisin’ the Coast and the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic. The tournament is set for May 24th through the 28th.