Its great that they are scheduling the SRs for max TV coverage. In the past only the CWS got national coverage but the fact that ESPN is covering the SRs shows how much the popularity of college baseball has grown. My prediction is that within 10 years there will be national games of the week on cable and networks and that the big time baseball programs will draw bigger crowds than college basketball. When LSU builds that new stadium they are talking about they should plan for the future and build it to hold at least 20,000 fans.
There are two reasons: First, ESPN wants the best time slots for the games they believe will draw the best ratings. They don't just look at this weekend's matchups, but also look ahead to next weekend and the possible matchups for the CWS. Second, the CWS starts on a Friday for half the teams with the other 4 starting on Saturday. So they do the same thing for the SRs so no team has an additional day of rest. The winners of the SRs that start on Friday will play on Friday in the CWS.