University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
This Week In Southern Miss Baseball
4/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 13, 2010
This Week's Schedule
Monday 4/5: Day off/No Practice
Tuesday 4/6: Southern Miss at UNO - 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday 4/7: Practice at Pete Taylor Park
Thursday 4/8: Travel to Charleston, WV
Friday 4/9: Southern Miss at Marshall - 1:05 p.m. CST
Saturday 4/10: Southern Miss at Marshall - 1:05 p.m. CST
Sunday 4/11: Southern Miss at Marshall - 9:35 a.m. CST
*All practice dates and times are tentative and subject to change without prior notice
TWIB Notes
· Southern Miss dropped all three games to UCF this weekend, the first time the Golden Eagles have been sweep at home in a C-USA series since the 2001 season
· The Golden Eagles dropped a heartbreaker vs. No. 3 LSU on Wednesday, losing 6-5 in 12 innings to the defending national champions
· Taylor Walker was 8-for-12 on the weekend with a double, three RBI and a run scored
· Freshman Dillion Day reached base in seven consecutive at bats, dating back to the St. Mary's series where he walked in his only plate appearance of the game, he had two doubles and a walk in the Saturday UCF game and singles in his first three at bats on Sunday. He finished the UCF series going 6-for-7 with two RBI, three doubles and three runs scored.
· The black and gold have already turned 43 double plays through the first 30 games of 2010. The Golden Eagles have had four or more twin killing in three different games this year.
· Southern Miss hit grand slams in back to back games with Joey Archer's shot at South Ala. and Taylor Walker's in the Thursday game of the St. Mary's series
· Sophomore B.A. Vollmuth hit home runs in four consecutive games from March 26th game at UAB through the Friday game vs. St. Mary's on March 2nd
· They led the nation last year with 83 twin-killings.
· Southern Miss turned two triple plays this season, both started by B.A. Vollmuth
Last week in review
Southern Miss gave the defending national champions LSU Tigers all they could handle in a 6-5, 12 inning loss in front of 9370 fans at Zephyr Field in New Orleans on Wednesday. Taylor Walker hit a solo home run in the top of the 12, but the Tigers answered for two runs in the bottom of the frame to take the annual Wally Pontiff Classic.
Southern Miss used 10 different pitchers in the game, with only Dillon Day, Paxton King, Collin Cargill Josh Jones working over an inning. Combined, the Golden Eagle pitching staff allowed LSU to score six runs and tally 14 hits in the game.
UCF jumped out to a 5-0 lead and held on to win 7-3 Friday night at Pete Taylor Park in the Conference USA series opener. UCF jumped out to a 5-0 lead with three runs in the third and a pair in the fifth, which was plenty for Knight starting pitcher Johnny Sedlock, who worked six innings allowing seven hits and one earned run.
Southern Miss hit two singles in the first but after that Sedlock did not allow another base runner until Joey Archer singled in the fifth inning.
Southern Miss fell behind 10-3 and rallied to force extra innings but fell 11-10 in game two of the series with Central Florida Saturday afternoon in front of 4,109 fans at Pete Taylor Park. With UCF leading 10-3, Southern Miss mounted a rally with a seven run eighth inning to tie the game at 10 headed into the ninth inning. The eight inning rally consisted of a hit batter, six walks, a double, a single, two RBI-groundouts and a wild pitch to account for the seven Southern Miss runs. UCF eventually won the game in the tenth inning with a two-out RBI single by Chris Taladay off Southern Miss closer Collin Cargill.
Southern Miss tried to rally late but came up short as UCF took the third and final game of the series 9-8 Sunday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park. UCF scored all nine of their runs in the fourth through the sixth overcoming an early 3-0 Southern Miss lead and withstanding a late charge by the Golden Eagles.
Down 9-4, Southern Miss scored three times in the eighth and once in the ninth, leaving the bases loaded in the final frame. In the eighth, Southern Miss (16-14, 1-5 C-USA) sent three consecutive pinch hitters to the plate with Isaac Rodriguez and Travis Creel singling to reach base. Tyler Koelling followed with a RBI double into the left-center field gap, plating two runs and Dillon Day ripped his fourth hit of the game, a RBI double down the left-field line.
The Eagles would not go quietly in the ninth either, as Kameron Brunty drew a walk and both Rodriguez and Creel were hit by a pitch to load the bases. Koelling hit a deep fly ball that allowed Brunty to score from third, but that was as close as Southern Miss would get leaving the tying run at third and the winning run at second when the game ended.
The Week's Opponents
Southern Miss will travel to UNO for the final time on Tuesday. The Privateers will make the move to Division III next season and will no longer be opponents with the Golden Eagles. The two teams have been regular opponents since 1970, meeting 92 times.
Southern Miss defeated the Privateers on March 16th at "The Pete" by a score of 11-2. Southern Miss scored seven runs in the fourth inning and freshman Geoffrey Thomas gave the Golden Eagles a quality start as Southern Miss defeated UNO 11-2
Thomas had the best outing of his young career, working 6.2 innings while allowing only one run. He scattered eight hits while striking out six and walking only two. Southern Miss put up two runs in the second to give Thomas an early lead to pitch with, then blew the game open in the fourth inning with seven runs, making the score 9-0. Adam Doleac, Kameron Brunty, BA Vollmuth and Chase Fowler each had two hits a piece tonight, pacing the offense.
The Thundering Herd took two-of-three games on the road at UAB this past weekend for Marshall's first series victory this season. Freshman 2B Kirby Pellant was 7-for-13 (.538) in the series, hitting a pair of triples and three doubles while posting multiple hits in all three games. Pellant scored four runs and drove in five, including four in Sunday's series finale victory. Senior OF Kurt Lipton had four hits in the series, including a double, triple and a home run. He scored three times and drove in five runs. His triple on Friday night was his fourth of the season, moving him into a tie for the league lead in that category. Junior SS Kenny Socorro tallied a hit in all three games against the Blazers, extending his current hit streak to 13 games. Freshman CF Isaac Ballou has been spectacular on Sunday games in Birmingham, Ala. Ballou went 3-for-4 against UAB and collected three hits in six at bats in a Sunday get away game at Samford in the first series of the season. In the two games, Ballou collected a double, triple, scored three runs and drove in four. In Friday's 7-3 win, five Marshall pitchers combined to hold UAB to just three hits. Senior RHP Tyler Gatrell earned his second win of the year in relief, throwing 2.2 hitless and scoreless innings and fanning four. Gatrell and junior LHP Kyle Blank each made their
league-leading 17th appearance of the season on Sunday.
In The Polls
After spending the first to weeks of the season in the top 25 Southern Miss fell from the polls in week three. The Golden Eagles have been ranked as high as No. 21 this season.
Southern Miss has been listed in the "Others Receiving Votes" category six of the last seven weeks in the NCBWA Poll
Around Conference USA
EAST CAROLINA
The Pirates won the final two games of their weekend series at Memphis, including a 20-9 victory on Saturday that saw the team register season-highs for runs scored and hits (24). Senior DH Kyle Roller raised his batting average 44 points to .363 after collecting eight hits in 11 at-bats in the Memphis series. He registered four doubles with six RBI, three runs and three walks (all team highs). Junior RHP Seth Maness recorded his sixth straight win as a starter in the Pirates 20-9 win in game two. He worked six innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on nine hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. With the victory he improved to 24-7 all-time at ECU (t-10th) and 14-1 all-time against C-USA teams in 18 starts. Senior C Jared Avchen batted .500 (4-for-8) with five RBI and four runs scored. On Saturday he was 3-for-5 with three RBI and shared the team lead with sophomore 3B Corey Thompson by scoring four runs. Avchen drove in the game-winning run in the series finale against the Tigers with a two-RBI double in the second inning, the ninth GW RBI of his career. Freshman IF John Wooten smacked his first career grand slam against the Tigers in the second inning on Saturday. It was his fifth homer of the year and the Pirates fifth grand slam of the season (freshman OF Chris Gosik-1, sophomore C Zach Wright-3).
HOUSTON
The Cougars dropped all three games to No. 11 TCU this past weekend. Junior OF Caleb Ramsey was the only Cougar to draw a hit in each game of the series, collecting four total hits, including a double and an RBI. Ramsey is batting a team-high .356 on the season. Junior LHP Taylor Hammack struck out a career-high tying six batters in game two of the series on Saturday night. He pitched 5.2 scoreless innings to open the game, giving up one run. Hammack leads the team in ERA at 3.25 and has struck out 30 batters in 36.0 innings pitched.
MARSHALL
The Thundering Herd took two-of-three games on the road at UAB this past weekend for Marshall's first series victory this season. Freshman 2B Kirby Pellant was 7-for-13 (.538) in the series, hitting a pair of triples and three doubles while posting multiple hits in all three games. Pellant scored four runs and drove in five, including four in Sunday's series finale victory. Senior OF Kurt Lipton had four hits in the series, including a double, triple and a home run. He scored three times and drove in five runs. His triple on Friday night was his fourth of the season, moving him into a tie for the league lead in that category. Junior SS Kenny Socorro tallied a hit in all three games against the Blazers, extending his current hit streak to 13 games. Freshman CF Isaac Ballou has been spectacular on Sunday games in Birmingham, Ala. Ballou went 3-for-4 against UAB and collected three hits in six at bats in a Sunday get away game at Samford in the first series of the season. In the two games, Ballou collected a double, triple, scored three runs and drove in four. In Friday's 7-3 win, five Marshall pitchers combined to hold UAB to just three hits. Senior RHP Tyler Gatrell earned his second win of the year in relief, throwing 2.2 hitless and scoreless innings and fanning four. Gatrell and junior LHP Kyle Blank each made their
league-leading 17th appearance of the season on Sunday.
MEMPHIS
The Tigers won the series opener against No. 27 East Carolina on Friday night before dropping the final two games of the series. Sophomore IF Jacob Wilson singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Memphis a 6-5 victory. Senior OF Tyler Huelsing drove in three more runs vs. ECU and is now second in the conference with 48 RBI this season. The 48 RBI are already the most by a Tiger player since the 2007 season. His 11 home runs are tied for second place among all C-USA players and are also the most since 2007. Sophomore SS Chad Zurcher led Memphis with a .474 (9-for-19) batting average last week, hitting four doubles and one home run in four outings. He drove in four runs and scored eight times, including multiple runs in three games. Zurcher hit safely and collected multiple hits in all four games on the week to extend his hit streak to seven games. He has now hit safely in 23 of the last 24 games. In Sunday's 3-2 loss, the Tiger duo of junior RHP Dane Sharp and sophomore RHP Heath Hatfield provided the teams' strongest bullpen outing this season, sitting down ECU's final 18 batters. Combined with starter Ryan Holland, Memphis hurlers retired 20-straight to end
the game. Sharp and Hatfield teamed up for eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings.
RICE
The Owls moved into sole possession of first place in the Conference USA standings by winning a three-game series on the road at Tulane over the weekend, 2-1. In four games last week, Rice hit a composite .371 with 17 doubles to out-score its opponents by a combined margin of 41-22, but the Owls had only a 2-2 record to show for it. Sophomore OF Jeremy Rathjen extended his career-best hitting streak to nine games Sunday at
Tulane. In the current streak. Rathjen is 19-for-43 (.442) with two home runs and six doubles for a .721 slugging percentage, but he's not the hottest hitter on the team. During that same stretch junior OF Chad Mozingo is 22-for-40 (.550) with five doubles and a triple for a .725 slugging percentage. He's also walked seven times for a .612 on-base average with four steals. Junior SS Rick Hague hit his 22nd career home run and 44th
career double on Sunday. Hague now needs just one more base hit for 200 in his Owl career. The Owls' weekend starting pitchers of Taylor Wall, Mike Ojala and Jared Rogers came up big in the C-USA series at Tulane. The trio combined for a 1.45 ERA in 18.2 total innings, and registered 12 strikeouts while holding opponents to a composite .185 batting average. Rogers was sensational at Tulane in not allowing a Green Wave hit until the fifth inning, but perhaps the best long-term news was Ojala's outing on Saturday. In just his third start since ndergoing Tommy John surgery nine months ago, Ojala worked a season-long 5.0 innings against Tulane and helped put his team in a position to win by allowing a single run on just three hits. Wall had another solid start and has now allowed just two earned runs in his last 15 innings with 13 strikeouts.
SOUTHERN MISS
The Golden Eagles suffered their first series sweep at home in C-USA play since the 2001 season as they lost three straight to UCF this past weekend. Southern Miss also dropped a heartbreaker vs. No. 3 LSU on Wednesday, losing 6-5 in 12 innings to the defending national champions in a game played at Zephyr Field in Metarie, La. Senior 2B Taylor Walker was 8-for-12 in the UCF series with a double, three RBI and a run scored.
Freshman OF Dillon Day reached base in seven consecutive at bats, dating back to the St. Mary's series where he walked in his only plate appearance of the game. He had two doubles and a walk in the Saturday UCF game and singles in his first three at bats on Sunday. Day finished the UCF series going 6-for-7 with two RBI, three doubles and three runs scored. Junior RHP Todd McInnis leads Conference USA in earned run average (3.04) and strikeouts (61), while holding opposing batters to a .210 batting average. The Black and Gold have already turned 43 double plays through the first 30 games of 2010. The Golden Eagles have had four or more twin killings in three different games this year. Southern Miss led the nation last year with 83 twin-killings.
TULANE
Tulane dropped the final two games of its weekend series with Rice. The Green Wave snapped their 12-game losing streak to Rice on Friday evening with a walk-off victory at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. The 6-5 victory was the fourth walk-off win of the season for Tulane and the Brian Barry two-RBI double was the first multi-RBI game of the freshman's career. Sophomore 3B Rob Segedin pushed his national leading doubles
total to 20 with a pair of two-baggers last week. The redshirt sophomore is now batting .409 for the season with 52 hits, 27 runs scored and 30 RBI. Of his 52 hits, 28 of them have gone for extra bases. Segedin has 20 doubles, two triples and six home runs thus far in 2010. Freshman OF Brandon Boudreaux extended his hitting streak to 14 games on Sunday versus Rice with a single in the sixth inning. The rookie is second on the team in batting average with a .371 mark and sits behind Segedin with a .459 on-base percentage. Junior RHP Nick Pepitone improved to 5-0 on the season by earning the victory on Friday night against Rice. He is tied for second in wins in Conference USA with sophomore RHP Robby Broach. In 17 appearances this season, Pepitone has five wins,
four saves and a 1.96 ERA in 23 innings pitched.
UAB
UAB dropped two of three games to Marshall at home this past weekend. Earlier in the week, the Blazers posted an 11-4 win at No. 24 Alabama, their second win over the Crimson Tide in seven days. Behind four hits each from sophomore OF Jamal Austin and senior 1B Luke Stewart, the Blazers gave head coach Brian Shoop his 100th win at UAB. It marked the first time that UAB had defeated Alabama twice in the same season since 2001. Austin has hit safely in his past seven games, including multiple hits in six of those contests. During that seven-game stretch, he is hitting .567 (17-for-30). Austin has taken over the team lead with a .351 batting average for the season and tops the Blazers in league play at .462. Senior OF Mikael Saway hit the first two home runs of his career Saturday in UAB's 12-4 win over Marshall. Saway started the UAB scoring with a solo home run in the third inning and later hit a two-run shot as part of a six-run sixth inning. It was the fourth multiple home run game of the season for the Blazers and the first by a player other than Stewart. Junior LHP Shay Crawford allowed just one unearned run on two hits to earn the win at Alabama. He worked five complete innings and allowed only the first batter of the game to cross the plate against him. Crawford pitched out of a bases loaded jam with no outs in the first inning, utilizing one of his four strikeouts and one of four UAB double plays, to allow only one unearned run. For the game, he surrendered just two hits, which came back-to-back in the third inning.
UCF
UCF claimed its first Conference USA road sweep since joining the league in 2006 with three victories at Southern Miss over the weekend. The last time it swept a conference opponent on the road was at Atlantic Sun foe Belmont in 2005. The only C-USA sweep by the Knights before this weekend was at home against Tulane in 2007. UCF has reached five wins in C-USA quicker than any other year. The Knights own a 22-12 record on the year, which already ties their entire win output from 2009. Senior OF Chris Duffy moved his season RBI total to 50 last week. He became the first Knight since Kiko Vazquez (57) in 2007 to amass at least 50 RBI in a season. Freshman C Ryan Breen went 7-for-15 (.467) last week, recording three doubles, six RBI and six runs scored.
Three of those RBI came with two outs. For the year, Breen is third on the team with a .380 average, collecting 20 RBI and 25 runs after starting the year on the bench. Senior OF Shane Brown collected three hits in Sunday's series finale, marking the 24th time in 34 games he posted at least two hits in a game. He also moved into the top 10 on the school's all-time hit list. Junior LHP Johnny Sedlock limited Southern Miss to just one earned run and struck out five in 6.0 innings in UCF's 7-3 win Friday.
Awards and Honors
C-USA Pitcher of the Week
Todd McInnis (2/22)
Scott Copeland (3/15)
College Baseball Insiders Regional Pitcher of the Week
Scott Copeland (3/15)
Johnny Bench Award Watch List
Brooks Wallace Award Watch List (Nations Top SS)
National Pitcher of the Year Watch List
PRESEASON
Conference USA Preseason Pitcher of the Year
C-USA Coaches and Baseball America
NCBWA Preseason All-American
Baseball America Preseason All-American
BA Vollmuth
Ping! Baseball Preseason All-American
All-Conference USA
(Selected by C-USA Coaches)
Baseball America All-Conference Team
SEBaseball.com All-Conference First Team
SEBaseball.com All-Conference Second Team
Following the Golden Eagles
WXHB (96.5 FM in Hattiesburg) will once again serve as the flagship station for the Golden Eagle baseball program this spring. Joining the ISP Sports Network this season will be WFFF (96.7 FM and 1360 AM in Columbia).
Both WXHB and WFFF will carry the full schedule this season.
Joining the network for all 24 Conference USA Games and selected mid-week games will be WAOY (91.7 FM in Gulfport), WRBE (106.9 FM and 1440 AM in Lucedale) and WGVM (1260 AM in Greenville).
The selected midweek games include March 23 vs. Ole Miss, April 7 vs. LSU, April 20 at Ole Miss, May 5 vs. Mississippi State and May 18 vs. Mississippi State.
The entire ISP Sports network would also carry any postseason game for the 2010 season including the C-USA Tournament and the NCAA postseason.
In addition, audio will be available for every game and video for all home games at southernmiss.com through the CBS College Sports All-Access subscription service.
Veteran broadcaster John Cox will call his 28th season of Southern Miss baseball in 2010
This Week at "The Pete"
Southern Miss returns to "The Pete" in two weeks as they host Houston for a C-USA series beginning on April 23
Tickets
Individual game tickets can be purchased through the Pat Ferlise Athletic Ticket Office on West 4th St., from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, over the phone at 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or online at SouthernMiss.com. The Pete Taylor Park ticket office will open approximately two hours prior to first pitch.
Also, season tickets packages are still available in the reserved bleacher and general admission sections but the reserved chair back seats have already been sold out.
Discounted group tickets are also available for groups of 10 or more. For more information on bringing your group to "The Pete" contact Brain Morrison at 601.266.6866
Game Day Weather Hotline
For the latest information on weather related issues concerning Southern Miss home events call the Southern Miss gameday hotline at 601.266.7411. The number will be updated constantly in situations where weather could affect games.
