University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Baseball Hosts New Orleans In Midweek Game
5/3/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Southern Miss Baseball Hosts New Orleans In Midweek Game
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? The (No. 14 NCBWA/No. 18 Baseball America/No. 19 SW-ESPN Coaches Poll) Southern Miss baseball team will host the New Orleans Privateers in a Tuesday night game at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field at
This marks the 81st meeting between the two schools in a series that began in 1970. Even though Southern Miss has won three of the past four meetings, UNO still leads the overall series, 45-35. Last year, Southern Miss won the first meeting in
The Golden Eagles (33-12, 14-7) are coming off a week in which they won three of four games. Last Tuesday in
The Privateers (22-21, 9-5) are coming off a midweek win over Southeastern Louisiana (9-1) and a conference weekend split with against Louisiana-Lafayette (2-3, 9-5).
Southern Miss is scheduled to start redshirt freshman lefthander Nick Valluzzo. He is 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA. He has pitched 13.1 innings, gave up 10 earned runs on 16 hits, struck out 11 and walked seven. Opponents have hit .308 against him.
The Golden Eagles are led offensively by junior shortstop Matt Shepherd, who is hitting .405 with 18 doubles, six triples, two home runs and has driven in 31 runs. Junior second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir is hitting .384 with 18 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 67 RBIs. Senior centerfielder Carlos Velasquez is hitting .349 with seven doubles, six home runs and has 31 RBIs. Senior rightfielder Ryan Frith leads the team in home runs with 16. He is also hitting .330 with 11 doubles and a team leading slugging percentage of .659.
The Privateers are led offensively by junior first baseman Dana Tosoni, who is hitting .351 with 14 doubles, six home runs and 32 RBIs. Junior centerfielder Joe Pietro is hitting .330 with four doubles, one home run and six RBIs. Sophomore catcher Kody Valverde is hitting .325 with nine doubles, one triple, six home runs and 26 RBIs.
After the
