University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Hosts Mississippi Valley State in Midweek Contest
2/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 20, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss baseball team hosts Mississippi Valley State for a midweek game on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 3 p.m., at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
The game will be broadcast on WXHB-FM, The Hub, 96.5 with veteran broadcasters Lance Pittman and John Cox calling the action. The game will also feature "live stats" from the SouthernMiss.com website.
Tuesday's game marks the 19th meeting between the two schools. Southern Miss has posted a 19-0 record against the Delta Devils since the first meeting in 1986. The teams last faced each other in 2005 with the Golden Eagles securing an 11-4 victory in Hattiesburg.
Southern Miss posted a 3-1 record last week, included winning the tournament championship of the Coca-Cola Classic, hosted by South Alabama. The Golden Eagles started their season with a 5-2 opening-day victory over Nicholls State on Wednesday afternoon.
Southern Miss then traveled to Mobile, Ala., for the weekend tournament, posting a 6-5 victory over No. 25 Wichita State on Friday, followed by a 6-1 win over Stetson on Saturday and dropped the final game to host South Alabama, 6-3, but still claimed the tournament title.
Mississippi Valley State (0-6) fell in all four games they played in last week. They lost 13-9 to Delta State on Wednesday, before playing a weekend series against UNO. In the three game series, the Delta Devils fell 19-0 on Friday, 14-9 on Saturday and 11-1 on Sunday.
Redshirt sophomore right-hander Barry Bowden makes his first appearance to the mound against Delta Devil junior right-hander Darrel Dinger.. Bowden finished the 2005 season with a 4-4 record and a 4.40 ERA in 73.2 innings pitched, striking out a team-high 71, while walking 34. Dinger is 0-1 with a 10.00 ERA in 8.1 innings pitched. He has struck out two and walked six.
In his last performance against New Orleans on Sunday, Dinger pitched one-third of an inning, giving up one run on three hits and walking one. In his last start last Wednesday, he pitched 4.1 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out two.
Offensively, Southern Miss is led by redshirt senior catcher Kevin Coker. Coker is batting .385 with five hits and one RBI. Freshman outfielder Michael Ewing is batting .364 with a double and is tied for the team lead with three RBIs. Junior outfielder Toddric Johnson is hitting .353 with a team-high six hits, two doubles and has one RBI.
Junior infielder Zach Penprase leads the Delta Devis, hitting .400 with a double, six stolen bases and three RBIs. Senior outfielder Rod Williams is hitting .333 with a double and three RBIs and senior outfielder Greg Thomas is hitting .333 with a double and five RBIs.
After Tuesday's game, Southern Miss will host its home series opener at Pete Taylor Park against Birmingham Southern on Feb. 24-26. Friday's game will begin at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
