University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Hosts South Alabama On Tuesday
2/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Hosts South Alabama On Tuesday HATTIESBURG, Miss. ?
The game will be aired on 107.1 FM, WKNZ-FM with Jason Baker, the voice of Lady Eagle Basketball, handling the play-by-play duties. It also will be aired on the internet by logging on to www.SouthernMiss.com, then going to the audio/video link on the left side, then go to the baseball schedule from there.
This is the 69th meeting between the two schools, who will face each other a second time this season in a midweek contest on March 22 in Mobile, Ala. The Jaguars have won five of the last seven meetings and lead the all-time series, 48-20.
The Golden Eagles (3-0) are coming off a three-game series sweep of future Conference USA member Marshall (0-6), while South Alabama (2-4) enters the contest after hosting the Coca-Cola Classic, where it defeated Wake Forest, 4-2, in their tournament opener, and then fell to Texas A&M, 4-3, and Jacksonville, 8-5.
Southern Miss will send redshirt freshman right-hander Barry Bowden to the mound to face Jaguar right-hander redshirt senior Tommie Major. This will be Bowden?s first collegiate career start and his first pitching appearance for the Golden Eagles since undergoing shoulder surgery early in the 2004 season. In 2004, he finished with a 1-0 record with a 4.76 ERA in 5.2 innings of relief, striking out five and walking four. Major (0-0) has made one appearance this season as a starter, pitching 2.0 innings and giving up four hits, striking out two, and walking three. Opponents are hitting .444 against him.
South Alabama is led offensively by sophomore outfielder Tyler Jones, who has a .409 batting average with nine hits, one triple, and three RBIs. Freshman catcher Joel Collins is batting .278 with five hits and two RBIs, while junior outfielder Ben Froemming has five hits, three doubles, and three RBIs in just eight at-bats.
Southern Miss is led by senior third baseman Beau Griffin. Griffin is batting .615 (8-for- 13) with one home run and eight RBIs. Redshirt freshman left fielder Drew Carson is hitting .545 (6-for-11) with one home run, four RBIs, and three walks, and junior first baseman Marc Maddox is batting .462 (6-for-13) with five RBIs and a team-high two home runs. Maddox also leads the team defensively with 29 putouts.
The Golden Eagles return to action this weekend when they host the Southern Miss Tournament at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field. The Eagles will face Mercer on Friday, then battle Southwest Missouri State on Saturday and close the tournament on Sunday against McNeese State. First pitch for Friday and Saturday?s games is set for 4 p.m., while Sunday?s contest will begin at 3 p.m.
