University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Hosts Southern Miss Tournament This Weekend
2/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Files associated with this release:
Southern Miss Tournament
Baseball Hosts Southern Miss Tournament This Weekend
Hattiesburg, Miss. - The Southern Miss baseball team will host the Southern Miss Tournament, featuring matchups between the Golden Eagles, McNeese State, Mercer, and Southwest Missouri State, this weekend at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
On Friday, the Southwest Missouri State Bears (0-3) will take on the McNeese State Cowboys (5-5) in a noon contest. Following that game, the Mercer Bears (9-2) will battle Southern Miss (3-1), with the first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.
Saturday will see a noon contest between McNeese State and Mercer, followed by the matchup between Southwest Missouri State and the Golden Eagles at 4 p.m.
Finally, on Sunday, Southwest Missouri State will take on Mercer in an 11 a.m. game. Then, McNeese State will meet Southern Miss in the closing game of the tournament, scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
Friday and Sunday's games will be broadcast on the flagship station for Golden Eagle baseball, WKNZ ? 107.1 FM, while Saturday?s game will be carried on WMXI - 98.1 FM, due to conflicts with the women?s basketball game. Jason Baker, the voice of Lady Eagle Basketball, will handle the play-by-play on Friday, while Ted Tibbett will be calling the action for Saturday?s contest. Lance Pittman and John Cox will be back in the booth for Sunday?s broadcast.
All three Southern Miss games will be aired on the internet by logging on to SouthernMiss.com, clicking the audio/video link on the left side, and then going to the baseball schedule from there. ?Live Stats? will also be available through SouthernMiss.com by clicking the ?Live Stats? icon on the baseball homepage.
Southern Miss?s Friday contest with Mercer will mark the first-ever meeting between the two teams. The contest with Southwest Missouri State will be the 12th time the two teams have met, with Southern Miss leading the series, 6-5. This will be the sixth meeting between the Golden Eagles and the McNeese State Cowboys. Southern Miss leads the all-time series, 3-2.
Southern Miss will turn to sophomore righthander and Conference USA Preseason Pitcher of the Year, Patrick Ezell on Friday. Ezell is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA, having pitched 7.0 innings in his first start of the season last week. He struck out three batters, and walked one, while giving up one earned run on seven hits. Opponents are hitting .269 against him.
Junior lefthander Cole Basinger will take the mound for Southern Miss on Saturday. Basinger (0-0) pitched 4.2 innings in his first start last Saturday, giving up four earned runs on eight hits, striking out five and walking two.
On Sunday, sophomore righthander Mike Cashion will start for the Golden Eagles. Cashion, who is 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA, has struck out five batters in 5.0 innings of play, while walking two. He has allowed three earned runs on six hits, and opponents are hitting .300 against him.
The weekend pitching rotations for Mercer, McNeese State, and Southwest Missouri State have yet to be determined.
Southern Miss is led offensively by senior third baseman Beau Griffin. He is hitting .529, with nine hits, one double, one home run, and eight RBIs. Freshman shortstop Trey Sutton is batting .471, with eight hits, one double and a team-high two triples. Sutton has driven in four runs and has one stolen base. Redshirt freshman Drew Carson also has four RBIs, and is hitting .400 with six hits and one home run. Junior first baseman Marc Maddox and senior catcher Brad Willcutt are leading the team in home runs with two each. Maddox and Willcutt also have seven hits and one double each, and Willcutt has driven in seven runners, while Maddox has five RBIs.
Mercer is led by junior third baseman Brandon Reichert, who is batting .432 with 19 hits, three doubles, three home runs and has driven in 11 RBIs. Senior outfielder Christian Grossmann is hitting .359 with 14 hits, four doubles and seven RBIs, while senior outfielder Daniel Hurst is batting .325 with 13 hits, four doubles, one home run and eight RBIs.
Southwest Missouri State is led offensively by sophomore outfielder Chris Taylor. Taylor is batting .571 with four hits, one double and three RBIs. Junior outfielder Jacob Hilgendorf is hitting .364 with four hits and one double. Sophomore infielder Tony Lewis has a .333 batting average with four hits and one RBI.
McNeese State is led by freshman outfielder Taylor Faul, who is currently hitting .400, with six hits, one double, one home run and nine RBIs. Senior catcher Michael Thompson is hitting .389, with seven hits, one double and three RBIs. Redshirt freshman shortstop/lefthanded pitcher Bryan Cartie is batting .375 with nine hits, two doubles, one home run and three RBIs. Junior first baseman/lefthanded pitcher Tyler Stutes also is hitting .375, and has six hits, one double, one home run and two RBIs and is 3-3 in stolen base attempts.
Following the Southern Miss Tournament, the Golden Eagles will host a midweek contest with Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Southern Miss will then travel to Beaumont, Texas, to participate in the Cardinal Classic hosted by Lamar. The Golden Eagles will take on UNC Wilmington in a 1 p.m. Friday contest, Indiana State at 1 p.m. on Saturday and finish the tournament on Sunday with a 3 p.m. matchup against Lamar.
