University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Faces Tulane in Final Regular-Season Series
5/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Southern Miss Faces Tulane in Final Regular-Season Series
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Southern Miss travels to New Orleans, La., to face conference-rival Tulane in the final three-game Conference USA series for both teams, this weekend, at Turchin Stadium.
The Golden Eagles (35-17 and 18-8 in C-USA) have won nine of their last 11 games, including winning two games against nationally-ranked East Carolina. Southern Miss fell to the Pirates in the final game of the series, 11-7, on Sunday. After the wins over East Carolina, the Golden Eagles moved into the national polls and are ranked No. 30 in both the Collegiate Baseball Magazine Poll and the National College Baseball Writer's Association Poll. Tulane (30-23, 14-13) took two of three games at South Florida last weekend, winning Friday, 15-5, and Sunday, 9-8.
Game one of the series will be played at 6:30 p.m., Thursday. Friday and Saturday games are set for 6:30 p.m., and 2 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.
The series features two of the top offensive teams in Conference USA. Southern Miss is third in the league in batting average (.311), first in runs scored (401) and second in hits (572). The Green Wave is fifth in batting average (.307), second in runs scored (389) and first in hits (588). The two teams also rank in the top five in other categories, including slugging percentage, RBIs, doubles, home runs and total bases.
Griff Israel and Jeff Cook pace the Golden Eagle offense, hitting .353 and .342, respectively. Israel is third on the team in RBIs (39) and is second in walks (28). He also holds the school record and C-USA lead in hit by pitch (17). Cook is tops in a number of statistical categories, including runs (65), hits (72), home runs (14), RBIs (59) and total bases (129). Freshmen Matt Shepherd and Jarrett Hoffpauir follow the pair, batting .323 and .318, respectively.
James Jurries leads Tulane with a .411 batting average, including team highs in runs (68), hits (83), doubles (14), triples (4), home runs (19) and RBIs (64). Aaron Feldman follows with a .359 batting average, while Michael Aubrey is third with a .335 batting average.
Two of the top pitchers in the conference take the mound in game one, with Shea Douglas (10-1, 2.74 ERA) starting for Southern Miss and Nick Bourgeois (9-2, 3.30 ERA) pitching for Tulane. Douglas ranks among the league leaders in ERA, strikeouts, and opposing batting average, while also leading in wins. He is also tied for 10th in the nation in pitching wins. Bourgeois is in the top five in opposing batting average and wins. Both players are tied for second in the league in strikeouts (99).
The probable starters for game two will be Bob McCrory (6-2, 2.31 ERA) of Southern Miss and Beau Richardson (3-5, 6.00 ERA) of Tulane. McCrory leads the league in ERA, as well as being ranked 26th in the nation. He is third on the team in strikeouts (55) and second in wins. Richardson is third on the team in strikeouts (50), while allowing a team-high 97 hits this season.
Daniel Stewart (5-3, 4.32 ERA) gets the nod for the Golden Eagles in game three, while Kris Kline (3-3, 5.43 ERA) is the possible starter for the Green Wave. Stewart leads Southern Miss in batters struck out looking (33) and is second on the team in overall strikeouts (56). He has allowed the fewest walks among starters (17) and is second in innings pitched (75.0). Kline has been the third starter for Tulane over the past few weeks and is currently fourth on the squad with 41 strikeouts.
Following the three-game series, both teams will travel to Kinston, N.C., to participate in the 2002 Conference USA Baseball Tournament, which begins Tuesday, May 21.
