University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Travels To Louisiana Tech For Three-Game Series
2/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Louisiana Tech Notes
Baseball Travels To Louisiana Tech For Three-Game Series
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? The Southern Miss baseball team, ranked No. 24 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association Poll, travels to Ruston, La., for a three-game weekend series against Louisiana Tech at J.C. Love Field (3,500) on Feb. 27-29. Friday's game will start at 6 p.m., Saturday's at 3 p.m., and Sunday's at 1 p.m.
Friday night's game will be broadcast on WMXI radio, 98.1 FM, due to a schedule conflict with women's basketball and will not be on SouthernMiss.com. Saturday's and Sunday's games will be back on The Zone, 107.1 FM, and on SouthernMiss.com for out-of-town listeners. Because of scheduling conflicts with men's and women's basketball, Dave Nitz, the voice of Louisiana Tech and the Shreveport Sports Baseball Club, will handle the play-by-play duties.
Southern Miss (3-1) enters the weekend series after dropping its first game of the season, 9-2, to South Alabama on Tuesday at home. The Golden Eagles opened their season with a three-game home weekend series sweep over Northwestern (La.) State, 12-3, 15-1 and 12-8.
Louisiana Tech (5-5) opened its season with a 2-1 series win over McNeese State (9-7, 4-18, 9-3) before dropping a three-game series at Arkansas (0-2, 2-22, 2-13) and a midweek game to Northwestern (La.) State (1-14). Last weekend, the Bulldogs swept Nicholls State at home, 18-9, 14-5 and 11-7.
The Golden Eagles are hitting .348 and have collected 15 extra base hits (eight doubles, two triples and five home runs). Southern Miss has a .444 on-base percentage and a .539 slugging percentage. The Golden Eagles have been walked 21 times, struck out 29 times and stole 5-of-9 bases. The pitching staff displays a 4.75 ERA in 36.0 innings pitched, have struck out 22 batters, walked 14 and opponents are hitting .222 against them.
The Bulldogs are hitting .299 and have 30 extra base hits (21 doubles, nine home runs). Louisiana Tech has been walked 30 times, struck out 99 times and stolen 19-of-23 bases. The Bulldogs have a .366 on-base percentage and a .439 slugging percentage. The pitching staff displays a 6.62 ERA in 87.0 innings pitched, have struck out 70 batters, walked 52 and opponents are hitting .318 against them.
Junior shortstop Matt Shepherd continues to lead the Golden Eagles with a .667 batting average (10/15). He has two doubles, one triple, four walks and three stolen bases. He has a .750 on-base percentage and a .933 slugging percentage. Junior second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir is hitting .500 with two doubles and eight RBIs, has walked twice and has two sacrifice flies. He has a .526 on-base percentage and a .643 slugging percentage. Senior outfielder Carlos Velasquez is hitting .471 with one home run and six RBIs and junior third baseman Beau Griffin is batting .400 with a double and an RBI.
Junior third baseman Stephen Winters leads the Bulldogs with a .389 batting average with two doubles, a team-leading two home runs and six RBIs. Senior outfielder Jeff Walker is hitting .370 with a team-leading four doubles and six RBIs. Sophomore designated hitter Ben Tabor is hitting .360 and is tied for the team RBI lead, along with senior first baseman Kyle Spangler and junior outfielder Gil Laird, with eight.
Friday night's game will feature Golden Eagle ace pitcher, senior right-hander Anthony DeWitt, against Bulldog hurler senior right-hander Clayton Meyer. DeWitt is 1-0 on the season with a 3.86 ERA. He gave up three runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out two against Northwestern (La.) State on Friday, Feb. 20, in Southern Miss' 12-3 win. Meyer is 1-1 with a 3.06 ERA in 17.2 innings pitched. He has struck out 12, walked five and opponents are hitting .282 against him. In his last outing, he gave up five runs, two earned, on eight hits and struck out four in an 18-9 win over Nicholls State.
Saturday afternoon's game will see Southern Miss' junior right-hander Cliff Russum face Louisiana Tech's freshman left-hander Brody Love. Russum is 1-0 on the season with a 0.00 ERA. He only gave up two hits in seven innings, walked one and struck out seven against Northwestern (La.) State in Southern Miss' 15-1 victory in game two. Love is 1-0 with a 4.70 ERA in 15.1 innings pitched. He gave up 12 runs, eight earned on 15 hits, struck out 14 and walked three. Opponents are hitting .242 against him. In his last outing against Nicholls State, he pitched five innings, gave up three runs, two earned, on five hits, walked one and struck out three.
Pitchers for Sunday's game haven't been announced yet.
After this weekend's series, the Golden Eagles will host Louisiana-Monroe for a two-game mid-week series on Tuesday, Mar. 2 at 6:30 p.m., and Wednesday, Mar. 3 at 3 p.m.
