University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Travels To Memphis For Conference USA Weekend
4/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Travels To Memphis For Conference USA Weekend
Hattiesburg, Miss. - The Southern Miss baseball team will travel to Memphis, Tenn., for a Conference USA weekend series against Memphis on Fri.-Sun., Apr. 18-20, at Nat Buring Stadium (2,000). Friday's game will start at 7 p.m., Saturday's game at 2 p.m., and Sunday's at 1 p.m.
The game will be broadcast on Zoo 107.1-FM with Lance Pittman handling the play-by-play duties. For those outside of Hattiesburg, the game can be heard by logging onto SouthernMiss.com.
The Golden Eagles (27-10, 11-4 Conference USA) enter the weekend contests after winning an 11-3 decision over New Orleans at home on Tuesday night. Southern Miss won 2-of-3 games against Charlotte this past weekend. Charlotte won Friday's game, 8-5, and Southern Miss won Saturday's, 6-2, and Sunday's 10-8. Southern Miss has won seven of its past 10 games and 18 of its last 25 games, dating back to the start of the Southeast Missouri State series on Mar. 7.
The Tigers (12-24, 4-11 Conference USA) enter the weekend series after dropping a 9-3 decision at Murray State on Tuesday. Memphis also lost 2-of-3 in its last conference series at East Carolina, dropping Friday's game, 3-2, and the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, 3-2, before winning the second game of the doubleheader, 8-1. The Tigers have split their last 10 games but have lost 10 of their last 15 games, dating back to Mar. 26.
This marks the 69th meeting between the two schools in a series that began in 1975. After sweeping the Tigers in Hattiesburg last season, the Golden Eagles hold a 37-31 series advantage over Memphis. Southern Miss Head Coach Corky Palmer is10-5 against Memphis and is 4-2 against Tiger Head Coach Dave Anderson.
Southern Miss will send junior righthander Bob McCrory to the mound on Friday against Memphis freshman righthander Stephen Gostkowski. McCrory is 5-2 with a 5.95 ERA in 39.1 innings pitched. He has walked 24, struck out 38 and opponents are hitting .312 against him. In his last outing against Charlotte last Friday, he pitched four innings, giving up seven runs on six hits, walking five and striking out six to drop his second-straight decision. Gostkowski is 1-3 with a 4.43 ERA in 40.2 innings pitched. He has struck out 30, walked 22 and opponents are hitting .335 against him. In his last outing, he pitched six innings, giving up three runs on six hits, walking four and striking out four.
On Saturday, Southern Miss will send junior righthander Anthony Dewitt to the mound to face Memphis redshirt sophomore lefty Brandon Rowan. Dewitt is 6-1 with a 3.47 ERA in 49.1 innings pitched. He has struck out 33, walked 10 and opponents are hitting .277 against him. In his last outing against Charlotte last Saturday, he pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits, walking two and striking out six, earning his sixth win of the season. Rowan is 2-1 with a 2.09 ERA in 38.2 innings pitched. He has struck out 32, walked 13 and opponents are hitting .240 against him. In his last outing against East Carolina last Saturday, Rowan pitched a complete-game victory, giving up one unearned run on five hits, walking two and striking out seven.
Southern Miss' senior righthander Stephen Castleman will face Memphis junior righthander Jarrett Grube on Sunday. Castleman is 3-1 with a 5.09 ERA in 53.0 innings pitched. He has struck out 41, walked 18 and opponents are hitting .332 against him. In his last outing against Charlotte last Sunday, he pitched five innings, giving up five runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out four. Grube is 1-4 with a 4.61 ERA in 41 innings pitched. He has struck out 40, walked 18 and opponents are hitting .290 against him. In his last outing against East Carolina last Sunday, he pitched 4.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits, walking one and striking out one.
Southern Miss is hitting .320 with 82 doubles, 10 triples and 45 home runs. The pitching staff has a 4.13 ERA in 327 innings, has struck out 286 batters, walked 139 and opponents are hitting .268 against the staff. Memphis is hitting .247 with 57 doubles, six triples and 31 home runs. The pitching staff has a 5.77 ERA in 304 innings, has struck out 247, walked 143 and opponents are hitting .308 against them.
Southern Miss sophomore outfielder Clint King continues to lead the Golden Eagles offense, hitting .408 with 12 doubles, one triple, 12 home runs and 41 RBIs. He also has six stolen bases. Senior outfielder Jeff Cook leads the team in home runs with 13 and RBIs with 47. He is hitting .367, has six doubles and leads the team in stolen bases with 11. Sophomore catcher Brad Willcutt is hitting .333 with a team-leading 16 doubles and has seven home runs to his credit.
Sophomore outfielder Ryan Martin leads the Tigers, hitting .341 with six doubles, five home runs and 12 RBIs. Junior second baseman Michael Lewis is hitting .284 with three doubles, three home runs and has driven in 11 runs. Junior catcher Kurt Welch is hitting .281 with nine doubles, two home runs and 28 RBIs. Junior infielder Kyle Scott leads the team with 11 doubles and junior infielder Josh Payne leads the team in home runs with six.
The Golden Eagles travel to Starkville, Miss., for a two-game midweek non-conference series at Mississippi State on Tues.-Wed., Apr. 22-23, at Dudy-Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium (15,000). Both games are scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
