University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Baseball Hosts Conference USA Foe Memphis
5/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Southern Miss Baseball Hosts Conference USA Foe Memphis
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Southern Miss begins its final regular-season stretch, hosting Memphis in a three-game Conference USA series, Friday through Sunday, at Pete Taylor Park.
The Golden Eagles have just nine more games in the regular season, which ends with a three-game tilt at Tulane in two weeks. Southern Miss (30-15, 13-7 in C-USA) is fresh off a 9-0 Tuesday win over Mississippi Valley State. The win was the fourth in the team's last five games, a span that included two wins against UAB last weekend. The Tigers (15-25, 7-14) have dropped four of their last five after losing three straight to East Carolina. Southern Miss owns the overall series record, 34-31.
Game one of the series is slated for 6:30 p.m., Friday, with Saturday and Sunday games taking place at 2 p.m., and 1 p.m., respectively. All three games can be heard locally on The Zoo 107.1, with Lance Pittman handling the play-by-play duties. Pregame shows begin approximately 15 minutes before the first pitch. The broadcasts also can be heard by logging on to SouthernMiss.com.
Southern Miss has been on an offensive tear over the last five games, outscoring opponents 44-20. The team has plated 341 runs this season, while also hitting 108 doubles, six triples and 42 home runs. Allen Winningham, continues to lead the team at the plate, batting a team-high .368 on the season, including team highs in hits (67), doubles (19) and extra-base hits (27). Jeff Cook follows with a .340 batting average and leads the team in runs (58), home runs (13) and RBIs (51). Matt Shepherd is third in hitting with a .330 average.
Memphis has scored 219 runs this season, along with 65 doubles, 14 triples and 38 home runs. Andy Gessell has a team-high .339 batting average, and Paul Cookman is second in hitting with a .304 average and leads the team with 29 runs and 49 hits. Josh Payne follows hitting .298 and a team-high 12 doubles.
Shea Douglas (8-1, 2.25 ERA) takes the mound for Southern Miss in game one, while Nick Steht (0-4, 5.36 ERA) will be the starter for Memphis. Douglas is among the league leaders in wins, strikeouts (84) and ERA. He has allowed 23 runs, 19 earned, on 61 hits this season. Steht has given up 39 runs, 25 earned, on 56 hits while striking out 24 batters.
In the second game, Bob McCrory (4-2, 2.64 ERA) gets the nod for the Golden Eagles, and Michael Novarese (4-4, 7.50 ERA) will start for the Tigers. McCrory is second on the team in ERA, as well as opponents batting average. He is third on the team with 42 strikeouts. Novarese has the second-most strikeouts (28) for Memphis. On the season, he has allowed 47 runs, 40 earned, on 70 hits.
The starters for the final game of the series have yet to be announced.
Following the series, Southern Miss hosts East Carolina in the final-home weekend of the year, Friday through Sunday, May 10-12.
