University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Travels To Houston For Final Conference USA Series
5/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Travels To Houston For Final Conference USA Series
Hattiesburg, Miss. - The No. 30 University of Southern Mississippi baseball team will travel to Houston, Texas, to face the University of Houston Cougars at Cougar Field (3,500) in the final Conference USA series of the season for both teams. Thursday?s game will begin at
All three games will be broadcast on WMXI-98.1 FM, with Lance Pittman and John Cox providing the play-by-play. The broadcast also will be available online by going to SouthernMiss.com, clicking on the Audio/Video link, and going to the baseball schedule from there. LiveStats will be available by clicking the LiveStats icon on the baseball homepage.
The series will mark the 30th meeting between the two teams, with
Southern Miss Head Coach Corky Palmer is 9-16 against the Cougars, while Houston Head Coach Rayner Noble is 18-10 against the Golden Eagles.
This past weekend marked the final regular home contests of the season for four senior Golden Eagle players, and Southern Miss (37-16, 18-9 Conference USA) made it a special one by sweeping the Bulls of USF in the Conference USA weekend series.
On Friday night, junior Marc Maddox, freshman David Steele, and redshirt freshman Trey Cuevas all had three hits, including a grand slam for Maddox, the first of his career, to lead the Eagles to an 18-8 victory. On Saturday, senior Jason Lowery had three hits, while redshirt freshman Drew Carson hit two solo home runs to give Southern Miss an 8-6 win. The Golden Eagles claimed the sweep on Sunday with an 8-7 win that was sealed by a two-run homer by Maddox in the bottom of the eighth inning. Sunday also marked Senior Day, as outgoing seniors Beau Griffin, Lowery, John Nicholas, Brad Willcutt and team manager Jake Cobb were honored in a pre-game ceremony.
On Tuesday night, Southern Miss traveled to
After the weekend sweep, Southern Miss sits in third place in the Conference USA standings, four games behind first place Tulane and one game behind second place TCU.
Houston (26-26, 15-11 C-USA) is coming off a week that saw the Cougars take 2-of-3 from Charlotte in a Conference USA weekend series in Charlotte, N.C. Houston took Friday?s contest, 8-5, before falling on Saturday, 8-7 in 12 innings. The Cougars were able to grab the series on Sunday, however, with a 6-5 victory in 11 innings. On Tuesday night,
Southern Miss is currently batting .312 as a team with 130 doubles, eight triples, 56 home runs and 372 RBIs. The pitching staff has an ERA of 4.93 with 387 strikeouts and 177 walks.
Freshman second baseman Trey Sutton continues to lead the offense for the Golden Eagles. Sutton is batting .357 with a team-high 79 hits, 13 doubles, three triples, six home runs and 38 RBIs. Marc Maddox is hitting .350 from the plate with 75 hits, 15 doubles, 13 home runs and 54 RBIs, while Jason Lowery is batting .348 with 78 hits, a team-high 17 doubles, one triple, six home runs and 46 RBIs. Brad Willcutt is hitting .326 with 70 hits, 16 doubles, and a team-high 15 home runs and 74 RBIs.
Willcutt once again etched his name into the Golden Eagle record books over the weekend, recording his 134th career walk and becoming Southern Miss? all-time walks leader, passing Andy Woodard. Willcutt also holds the all-time RBIs record with 228 and the all-time doubles record with 67.
Junior outfielder Travis Tully leads the Cougars offensively, batting .365 with 73 hits, 16 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 18 RBIs. Junior Kevin Roberts is hitting .359 with 66 hits, 15 doubles, five triples, eight home runs and 33 RBIs, while sophomore pitcher Brad Lincoln is batting .337 from the plate with 62 hits, 14 doubles, one triple, five home runs and 44 RBIs. Sophomore infielder Dustin Kingsbury is also hitting .337, with 68 hits, 11 doubles, one triple, five home runs and 50 RBIs.
On Thursday night, Southern Miss will send junior left-hander Matt Caire to the mound to face junior left-hander Matt Farrington.
Caire is 6-3 with a 5.92 ERA. He has pitched 59.1 innings in nine starts and 13 appearances for the Golden Eagles, allowing 44 runs (39 earned) on 75 hits, striking out 52 and walking 20. Opponents are batting .306 against him. In his last appearance against USF on Friday, Caire pitched 5.1 innings, giving up six earned runs on 11 hits, striking out four and walking four.
Farrington is 7-4 with a 2.95 ERA. He has pitched 85.1 innings in 14 starts and 15 appearances for the Cougars, allowing 34 runs (28 earned) on 82 hits, striking out 56 and walking 29. Opponents are hitting .253 against him. In his last appearance against
In Friday?s game, a Southern Miss pitcher yet to be determined will face the right-hander Lincoln.
Starting pitchers for Saturday?s series finale will be announced at a later date.
Following this weekend?s series, Southern Miss will host the 2005 Conference USA Baseball Tournament from May 25-29 at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field. General admission tickets are still available, and can be purchased by calling 1-800-844-TICK or 601-266-5418.
