University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Travels To Nationally-Ranked Ole Miss Tuesday Night
4/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Travels To Nationally-Ranked Ole Miss Tuesday Night
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? The (No. 11 BA/No. 12 NCBWA/No. 13 Coaches Poll/No. 23 CB) Southern Miss Golden Eagles will travel to Oxford, Miss., to face the (No. 5 BA/No. 6 SW-ESPN Coaches Poll/No. 6 NCBWA/No. 7 CB) Ole Miss Rebels Tuesday night at Swayze Field (3,500). First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
This marks the 104th meeting between the two schools with Ole Miss leading the series, 66-37. In the earlier meeting on March 23 in front of a record crowd at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field, Southern Miss hit a one-out bases-loaded in the ninth inning to win, 8-7. The Rebels have won six of the last 11 meetings, dating back to 1999. The two teams have split the series every year since 1999 except for the 2001 season, where Ole Miss won both meetings. In 2003, Ole Miss won the first meeting in Oxford, 6-3, on March 26, and Southern Miss won the game in Hattiesburg on April 9, 8-2. Southern Miss, (29-8, 12-3 Conference USA), just completed a Conference USA three-game weekend series win over Memphis (6-2, 10-5, 4-5). Ole Miss, (31-6, 11-4), is coming off a Southeastern Conference weekend series sweep over No. 6 Tennessee (4-2, 4-3, 7-4). Ole Miss opened its season with 11-straight wins, including series sweeps over Birmingham Southern, at South Alabama, Southeast Missouri State and Eastern Illinois. Arkansas State gave Ole Miss its first loss on March 10, and since that time the Rebels have won seven-straight, including a series sweep over Nicholls State, a midweek win at Memphis and the series sweep over Vanderbilt. After losing the game at Southern Miss, Ole Miss has defeated Alabama (2/3) and Mississippi State (2/3), defeated Memphis in a midweek game, before dropping two-of-three to Auburn (6-1, 1-2, 2-3). The Rebels claimed midweek wins over Mississippi State and Arkansas State before sweeping Tennessee. Ole Miss is scheduled to pitch freshman lefthander Matt Maloney, who is 1-0 with a 2.03 ERA. In four appearances, including two starts, he pitched 13.1 innings, giving up four runs, three earned, on 11 hits, walked one and struck out 13. Opponents are hitting .216 against him. The Golden Eagles are scheduled to start freshman righthander Mike Cashion, who is 1-1 with an ERA of 1.47. In 12 relief appearances, he has pitched 18.1 innings, giving up eight runs, three earned, on nine hits, walked 11 and struck out 26. Opponents are hitting .138 against him. Jarrett Hoffpauir leads the Golden Eagles in hitting, posting a .420 batting average. In 157 at bats, the junior second baseman has 66 hits, including 15 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 60 RBIs. He has 104 total bases for a slugging percentage of .662 and an on-base percentage of .451. Matt Shepherd is second on the team, posting a .407 batting average. In 162 at-bats, the junior shortstop has 66 hits, including 17 doubles, six triples, and 28 RBIs. He has recorded 22 walks for an on-base percentage of .481. Carlos Velasquez has raised his batting average to .366. In 134 at bats, the senior outfielder has 49 hits, including seven doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 27 RBIs. Velasquez has a .567 slugging percentage and a .453 on-base percentage. Senior right fielder Ryan
Frith leads the team with 14 home runs. He is hitting .349 in 146 at bats, including 10 doubles and 38 RBIs. Frith has 103 total bases for a slugging percentage of .705 and has an on-base percentage of .432. Southern Miss is hitting .327 as a team with 82 doubles, 14 triples, 58 home runs and 297 RBIs. The pitching staff has a 3.94 ERA with opponents hitting .264 against the Golden Eagles. Sophomore first baseman Stephen Head leads the Rebels with a .399 batting average, including 11 doubles, 10 home runs and 44 RBIs. He has 100 total bases for a slugging percentage of .699 and a .467 on-base percentage. Junior catcher Barry Guenther is hitting .372 with eight doubles, one home run and 22 RBIs. Senior outfielder Charlie Babineaux has a team-leading 14 doubles and is second on the team in home runs with seven. Southern Miss returns to Conference USA action this weekend as they travel to New Orleans, La., to face Tulane at Turchin Stadium. Friday's game starts at 6:30 p.m., Saturday's at 2 p.m., and Sunday's at 1 p.m.
