University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Close Regular Season At Houston
5/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Eagles Close Regular Season At Houston
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Southern Miss' upcoming three-game series at Houston lends new meaning to the old "the next game is the most important game" coaches' quote that has been around seemingly forever.
Head Coach Corky Palmer's team has played 52 games, owns a 39-13 record, is in first place in the C-USA standings and seemingly headed to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since the 1999 season, but Thursday (7 p.m.), Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m.) games with the Cougars may, indeed, be the most important games of the entire season.
All the league teams play regular-season-ending series this weekend and results from those games will determine the final two teams that will participate in the upcoming C-USA Tournament at Tulane, along with deciding seeds for that tournament as well as the regular season champion.
Southern Miss, 21-6 and enjoying its highest ranking ever at No. 17 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association poll, goes into the Cougar series in first place in Conference USA standings and with a one-game lead over TCU (20-7). Tulane (18-9) is in third, followed by Houston (17-10), East Carolina (16-11) and Louisville (13-13). All six teams already have secured spots in the eight-team, May 21-25 C-USA tournament.
The Golden Eagles go into the Houston series off a sweep of South Florida, while Houston won two-of-three at Memphis. The Cougars are 30-23, and, while they can't win the regular season, they can have a voice in determining who does. Through an April 26 game at South Florida, Houston had won six straight games, but the Cougars dropped the second game of a doubleheader that day and are 7-5 in their last 12 games, including an 8-6 Tuesday night victory over Texas A&M.
Houston brings a .282 team batting average into the game, compared to Southern Miss' .318. The Cougars have only two players hitting over .300, led by Hyung Cho's 382 average. Gabe Lucas follows at .305. Southern Miss shows seven players above that .300 level, led by Clint King's .395 average. Jeff Cook is close behind at .358.
Despite the 30-23 record, the Houston pitching staff has compiled an impressive 3.63 earned run average, compared to a 3.74 ERA by the Golden Eagle staff. Ryan Wagner (3-5) tops the Cougar staff at 2.02 with ace Brad Sullivan (6-5) close behind at 2.15. Among the Southern Miss starters, Anthony Dewitt (8-1) leads the staff at 3.28, with Cliff Russum following at 4.04. Reliever Ray Antonelli (3-0) leads the ERA group at 1.87.
Weekend pitching matchups will send Bob McCrory (8-2, 4.33) against Sullivan in the Thursday game, DeWitt against Garrett Mock (4-3, 3.75) in the Friday game and Stephen Castleman (6-2, 4.50) against a to-be-named Houston starter in the series finale Saturday.
Following the Houston series, the Eagles will make the short trip down Interstate 59 to New Orleans, La., for the Conference USA Tournament that will start May 21.
