University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
This Week in Southern Miss Baseball
4/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 5, 2010
This Week's Schedule
Monday 4/5: Day off/No Practice
Tuesday 4/6: Practice at Pete Taylor Park
Wednesday 4/7: Southern Miss vs. No. 4 LSU (Zephyr Field - New Orleans)
Thursday 4/8: Practice at Pete Taylor Park
Friday 4/9: Central Florida at Southern Miss- 6:30 p.m.
Saturday 4/10: Central Florida at Southern Miss- 3:00 p.m.
Sunday 4/11: Central Florida at Southern Miss - 11:00 a.m.
*All practice dates and times are tentative and subject to change without prior notice
TWIB Notes
· Southern Miss took two-of-three from St. Mary's over the weekend in non-conference action
· The Golden Eagles scored three runs with two-outs in the bottom of the ninth to win on Friday and used an 11 run third inning to win 15-7 on Saturday
· Friday's three run ninth inning was keyed by B.A Vollmuth's two-run home run to tie the game and Anthony Doss' walk-off single
· Southern Miss posted their largest inning of the season vs. St. Mary on Saturday with an 11 run third inning. The previous high was eight runs in an inning which they had done three times
· The Golden Eagles fell to 5-2 in midweek games with a 14-13 loss at South Alabama on Tuesday.
· 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
· Kameron Brunty is riding a career long 16 game hit streak that started on March 12 vs. Missouri State while B.A. Vollmuth has hit in 10 straight, also a career long, which starter on March 19 at La. Tech
· The black and gold have already turned 34 double plays through the first 26 games of 2010. The Golden Eagles have had four or more twin killing in three different games this year.
· They led the nation last year with 83 twin-killings.
· The Golden Eagles have scored 229 runs on 303 hits, 101 for extra bases, in the first 26 games
· The pitching staff has recorded 188 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .286 average
- Southern Miss turned two triple plays this season, the second triple play in school history was turned vs. La.- Monroe on March 3 as B.A Vollmuth fielded a ground ball at shortstop, tagged the runner going to third, stepped on second base and threw to first base.
- The Third Triple play in school history was once again turned by Vollmuth as he caught a line drive with runner moving on the pitch, stepped on second and threw over to first base at La. Tech on March 20
Last week in review
South Alabama scored 10 unanswered runs to come from behind and defeat Southern Miss 14-13 Tuesday night at Stanky Field in Mobile, Ala. The Golden Eagles used an eight run fourth inning to jump out to a 13-4 lead but South Alabama scored 10 unanswered runs in their final four at bats to win the game. The two teams combined to use 13 pitchers that allowed 27 runs and 35 hits while leaving 22 runners on base in a game that lasted over three-and-a-half hours Tuesday evening.
Southern fell behind 10-0 after the first three innings and could not come back in a 19-10 loss Thursday evening to St. Mary's at Pete Taylor Park. Pitching was once again an issue for the Golden Eagles as five different pitchers allowed 19 earned runs on 17 hits.
At the plate the offense scored 11 runs on 12 hits, including three home runs. B.A. Vollmuth led the charge with a two-for-two night, including a three-run home run.
Anthony Doss ripped a two-out single to score Mark Ellis in the bottom of the ninth inning to lead Southern Miss over St. Mary's 4-3 Friday night at Pete Taylor Park. Starting pitcher Todd McInnis was outstanding, he allowed only one hit and did not allow a run through the first eight innings. In the ninth he left the game with two runners on base, both of which came in to score in a three run St. Mary's top of the ninth.
Down 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth the magic of Pete Taylor Park shined once again. With two outs Kameron Brunty drew a walk to start the game winning rally. B.A. Vollmuth followed with a no doubt home run over the scoreboard to tie the game at three. For Vollmuth it was his seventh home run of the season and the fourth consecutive game he has left the yard.
With the game tied Mark Ellis hit what appeared to be a single in the right-center field gap but turned it into a hustle double with a close play at second base. Doss became the hero of the night with a solid single up the middle allowing Ellis to narrowly beat the throw home from centerfield to win the game.
The Golden Eagles pounded out 15 hits and scored 15 runs in a 15-7 victory over St. Mary's Saturday afternoon to take the series from the Gaels. The game was shortened to six innings because of a preset travel curfew that said no inning could start after 3:00 p.m. to allow St. Mary's could catch their flight out of New Orleans. The game also started almost an hour late because of heavy rains that fell in Hattiesburg throughout the morning.
Southern Miss (16-10) and St. Mary's traded runs in the first two innings and the Gales put up a five spot in the top of the third off Jay Myrick and Ryan MacNamara for a 7-2 lead. Southern Miss answered with their biggest inning of the season, an 11 run outburst to grab the momentum and the series win.
The 11 run third inning saw 14 batters come to the plate and was keyed by Anthony Doss and Adam Doleac's three run home runs and a two RBI double hit by Taylor Walker. Once Southern Miss took the 13-7 lead and with the travel curfew closing in head coach Scott Berry went to the Golden Eagles' closer Collin Cargill to hold the lead. Cargill (3-1) worked the final three innings allowing only two hits and striking out three. He needed only 30 pitches and retired nine of the 10 batters he faced in the final three frames.
The Southern Miss offense saw every player in the lineup collect at least one hit and score at least one run in the six inning game.
The Week's Opponents
Southern Miss will travel to New Orleans to play the defending national champions and No.4 LSU at Zephyr Field in the Wally Pontiff Classic on Wednesday. LSU recorded a conference series victory over Georgia last weekend, and the Tigers have now won 16 of their last 17 SEC regular-season series, dating back to April 2008 ... the Tigers have also won seven SEC series in a row since April 2009 ... LSU is ranked in the Top 10 for the 31st consecutive week, a streak that began on May 19, 2008 ... beginning on April 22, 2008 - a stretch of 129 games - LSU has lost two games in a row on just one occasion -- the Tigers dropped two straight to Tennessee on April 18-19, 2009 in Alex Box Stadium ... sophomore right-hander Matty Ott earned his 10th save of the season Friday versus Georgia, increasing his career total to 26 ... Ott is in second place on the all-time LSU saves list, trailing only Rick Greene, who had 29 saves for the Tigers from 1990-92 ... junior catcher Micah Gibbs extended his hitting streak to 10 games last week, as he batted .600 (9-for-15) in four games with one double, one homer, three RBI, two stolen bases and four runs scored ... Gibbs also drew two walks and recorded a .647 on-base percentage ... in LSU's SEC series victory over Georgia, Gibbs hit .636 (7-for-11) with one double, one RBI, two runs, two steals and a .667 on-base percentage ... Gibbs is LSU's leading hitter this season, batting a robust .396 (40-for-101) on the year with five doubles, two triples, four homers, 27 RBI, six steals and 17 runs scored ... junior right-hander Anthony Ranaudo took another step toward his return to the LSU rotation as he worked three innings in a starting role Friday against Georgia ... Ranaudo, who missed four starts due to a stress reaction in his throwing elbow, allowed one run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts against the Bulldogs while firing 55 pitches .... freshman left-hander Jordan Rittiner pitched in three games last week, recording a 1-0 mark with a 0.00 ERA in 4.1 innings ... Rittiner allowed no runs on one hit with two walks and four strikeouts; he earned a relief win against Georgia on Sunday, firing 3.1 shutout innings with one hit, one walk and two strikeouts ... senior designated hitter Matt Gaudet increased his SEC-leading home run total to 11 last week as he hit .429 (6-for-14) in four games with two homers, seven RBI and four runs scored ... sophomore rightfielder Mikie Mahtook posted the second two-homer game of his career Sunday versus Georgia - he led off the bottom of the first with the solo shot and added a two-run blast in the second inning ... sophomore shortstop Austin Nola collected a career-best three RBI in Sunday's win over Georgia when he delivered a bases-loaded double in the sixth inning .
The Knights were 1-2 against UAB this past weekend. UCF has won the first game of both of its C-USA series openers this year, but has gone on to drop the final two outings. In Friday's series opener, UAB plated five in the second inning, but UCF countered with 16 unanswered runs en route to a 16-7 victory. Senior OF Chris Duffy now owns a 20- game hitting streak, which is tied for the third-longest in UCF history. In game one vs. UAB, he hit the 35th homer of his career, moving him into a tie with Matt Bowser for fourth on the UCF career chart. It also was his 13th home run of the season. Duffy opened the year on an eight-game streak, as the only time he has not registered a hit was against North Florida March 3. During the current 20-game streak, Duffy is hitting .481
with nine homers and 32 RBI. Projected to have two freshmen in the starting lineup to begin the season (CF Ronnie Richardson and SS Darnell Sweeney), UCF used five in its lineup in both games against Bethune-Cookman March 30-31. And they all took advantage. The Knights banged out 32 hits in the pair of victories, and the freshmen combined for 21 of those hits (66 percent of the output). All nine regular starters in the UCF batting lineup are carrying batting averages of at least .297. Five players have averages of .359 or better.
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 the last six weeks in the NCBWA Poll
RPI Watch
According to Boydsworld.com Southern Miss is currently No. 60 in the latest RPI. Here is a look at where some of the Golden Eagles opponents that are in the top 100 with the Golden Eagles record against them in parenthesis
14- LSU
15- Ole Miss (0-1)
30- Mississippi State
32- Northwestern State (2-1)
40- Rice
56- South Alabama (0-1)
59-La. Lafayette (2-1)
71- Tulane
74- Troy
84- East Carolina
Around Conference USA
EAST CAROLINA
The Pirates dropped two-of-three games at Tulane this past weekend in their opening Conference USA series of the season. Senior DH Kyle Roller batted .313 (5-for-16) with a home run and six RBI last week, roping a pair of doubles in the final game of the series against Tulane. He also walked six times on the week and was hit by pitches four times to record a .556 on-base percentage. Roller scored a run in all five games (six overall) and recorded multiple RBI in the first two games of the Tulane series. He moved into fourth place on the school's all-time RBI list with 183. Freshman IF John Wooten returned to the lineup this week batting a team-best .412 (7-for-17) with four RBI. He collected three doubles and scored three runs, recording a pair of multi-hit games and tying his career high with four hits in game one of the doubleheader against Tulane where he was 4-for-6
with two RBI, two runs scored and two doubles. Redshirt freshman OF Philip Clark extended his current hitting streak to a personal-best nine games. Junior RHP Seth Maness recorded his fifth-straight win as a starter in the Pirates 15-6 win over Tulane in game one on Saturday. With the win he improved to 23-7 all-time at ECU and 13-1 alltime against Conference USA teams.
HOUSTON
The Cougars dropped all three games at Rice this past weekend, including the series finale in 12 innings. Junior OF Joel Ansley was the only Cougar to draw a hit in each game of the Rice series, collecting four total hits, including a home run and scoring three times. Junior C Chris Wallace became the first Houston player this season to hit two home runs in a game when he went deep twice in Saturday's 8-7, 12-innning loss. Sophomore RHP Matt Creel had a strong relief outing at Rice on Saturday, throwing five shutout innings and allowing just two hits with two walks. Houston has produced a league-high 12 triples this season. Junior SS Blake Kelso has four triples to lead eight different UH players that have produced a three-bagger this season.
MARSHALL
The Thundering Herd won the series opener against Memphis on Friday night before dropping both games of Saturday's doubleheader. Senior OF Kurt Lipton went 8-for-16 on the week with a double, two triples and eight RBI while notching 16 total bases. In Saturday's doubleheader against Memphis, Lipton laced five hits and seven RBI. Junior C Victor Gomez snapped a 17-game hit streak going 0-for-5 in the first game of the Memphis series. Gomez picked up a RBI single in the bottom of the third in game three against the Tigers to become the all-time MU leader with 140 in his career. Freshman 1B Nathan Gomez hit a team best .636 for the week (7-for-11) with three runs, two doubles and four RBI. He has collected 16 hits in 43 at-bats this year and half of his hits have
been two-baggers. Junior RHP Ian Kadish threw six strong innings against Memphis on Friday, allowing two runs on three hits, while striking out eight. MU hit .349 (52-for-149) as a team during the week's four game slate, despite finishing with a 1-3 record.
MEMPHIS
Memphis swept Saturday's doubleheader at Marshall to earn its second consecutive Conference USA series win. The series victory marked the first time since 2007 that the Tigers have won back-to-back league series (at UAB, vs. UCF). It also marks Memphis' first road C-USA series win since sweeping UAB in 2007. In the series finale at Marshall, the Tigers scored a season-high 21 runs on a season-high 24 RBI, 24 hits and five home runs. Senior OF Tyler Huelsing was named C-USA Hitter of the Week for the second time this year. Memphis has now earned a C-USA weekly award for each of the last three weeks. After getting off to a slow 5-11 start, Memphis has shown vast improvements. Since March 17, the Tigers have gone 8-4 to pull their record to within two games of .500 (13-15). In that span the Memphis offense has a .333 batting average with 16 homers. The Tigers have outscored their opponents 104-88 in those 12 games. Huelsing's 6-for-6 performance on Saturday was one for the Memphis baseball record books. Huelsing tied the program record with three home runs and 15 total bases. His eight RBI and six hits fell one short of the Tigers record. The Memphis senior now has 10 home runs, which is the most by a Tiger hitter since 2007.
RICE
Rice has won five-straight games to grab a share of first place in the Conference USA regular season standings. The Owls swept a three-game C-USA series from cross-town rival Houston for a 4-2 record against the league. Rice pitching has come up big in the five-game win streak. The Owls have maintained a 2.25 ERA and held opposing hitters to a composite .215 batting average over that span. The Blue & Gray has received some
sensational outings out of the bullpen, highlighted by the left-handed duo of Abe Gonzales and Doug Simmons, who combined for 13.2 innings without allowing an earned run in the last week alone. On the offensive side, Rice hit a composite .326 and averaged eight runs in the four wins last week. Junior RF Chad Mozingo was inserted into the leadoff spot and responded by going 10-for-15 (.667) with two doubles for an .800 slugging percentage. Mozingo also drew five walks for a .750 on-base percentage. He scored four times, drove in a pair of runs, stole one base and registered a sacrifice bunt. Sophomore OF Jeremy Rathjen also had a productive week at the plate, going 8-for-17 (.471) with a home run and a double for a .706 slugging percentage. He drove in six runs and scored four times. Sophomore 3B Anthony Rendon's 11th home run of the year on Saturday was his second grand slam of the season. The opposite field round-tripper was the 31st of Rendon's young career. He has sole possession of tenth place on Rice's list for career homers. On Rendon's bases-on-balls watch, the Houston native now has an NCAA-leading 39 walks in 29 games. Sophomore C/DH Craig Manuel hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to defeat Houston in the finale of that weekend series. The home run was the first of Manuel's career in 197 collegiate at-bats.
SOUTHERN MISS
Southern Miss took two-of-three from St. Mary's over the weekend in non-conference action. The Golden Eagles scored three runs with two-outs in the bottom of the ninth to win on Friday and used an 11 run third inning to win 15-7 on Saturday. Friday's three-run ninth inning was keyed by sophomore SS B.A Vollmuth's two-run home run to tie the game and sophomore OF Anthony Doss' walk-off single. Vollmuth hit home runs in four consecutive games from March 26th game at UAB through the April 2nd game vs. St. Mary's. Sophomore OF Kameron Brunty is riding a career long 16 game hit streak that started on March 12 vs. Missouri State while Vollmuth has hit in 10 straight, also a career long, which started on March 19 at Louisiana Tech. Southern Miss posted its largest inning of the season vs. St. Mary's on Saturday with an 11 run third inning. The previous high was eight runs in an inning which they had done three times. USM hit grand slams in back-to-back games with senior IF Joey Archer's shot at South Alabama and senior 2B Taylor Walker's in the Thursday game of the St. Mary's series. The black and gold have already turned 34 double plays through the first 26 games of 2010. The Golden Eagles have had four or more twin killing in three different games this year. Southern Miss led the nation last year with 83 twin-killings.
TULANE
Tulane took two-of-three at East Carolina over the weekend to remain tied for first place in the Conference USA tandings with a 4-2 league record. The Green Wave has not been defeated in the final game of a series all season, improving to 7-0 in those contests. Redshirt sophomore RHP Robby Broach has five of those victories, while junior RHP Nick Pepitone and senior RHP Preston Claiborne each have a victory. Tulane is averaging nearly eight runs a game in the series finale contests and are allowing just four. Broach fanned a career-high 10 batters at East Carolina over the weekend, besting his nine strikeouts that he collected versus Marshall last weekend. Broach had fanned nine batters twice in his career, but the 10 against the Pirates was the first double-digit strikeout game of the season for Tulane. Sophomore C Jeremy Schaffer hit a pair of home runs at ECU over the weekend to bring his career total to 20. He has 82 career RBI and 31 total extra base hits in 75 games played for the Wave. Redshirt sophomore IF Matt Ryan extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games, while freshman OF Brandon Boudreaux will enter the week with a 10-game hitting streak. Four of the Green Wave freshmen have posted 17+ RBI thus far in 2010 and five of them have driven in at least 10 runs this season. Catcher Blake Crohan paces all the newcomers with 21, while Boudreaux has 20 and infielders Garrett Cannizaro and Brennan Middleton have each collected 17.
UAB
UAB won its sixth consecutive head-to-head series dating back to last season by sweeping a Saturday doubleheader at UCF to take two out of three from the Knights. Pitching was the key on Saturday as UAB held UCF to just three runs in 18 total innings.Senior RHP Beau Pender struck out a career-high 10 batters and did not surrender a run until the ninth inning in game one, while game two starter Ryan Woolley worked six and two-thirds scoreless frames before handing the ball over to senior closer Nick Graffeo to finish it out. UAB has now swept three of the four doubleheaders it has played this season, winning both games against Ball State (Feb. 27), Western Illinois (March 20) and UCF (April 2) while splitting a pair with Southern Miss (March 27). Freshman OF Ryan Ussery drove in five of UAB's six runs in Saturday's game two victory, including a two-run
homer in the second inning and a two-run double in the ninth. The right fielder is hitting .338 this season and trails only fellow freshman John Frost's .364 average among the team's regulars. With wins in four of five games last week, including a midweek victory over No. 23 Alabama, the Blazers have now won 10 of their past 12 games.
UCF
The Knights were 1-2 against UAB this past weekend. UCF has won the first game of both of its C-USA series openers this year, but has gone on to drop the final two outings. In Friday's series opener, UAB plated five in the second inning, but UCF countered with 16 unanswered runs en route to a 16-7 victory. Senior OF Chris Duffy now owns a 20- game hitting streak, which is tied for the third-longest in UCF history. In game one vs. UAB, he hit the 35th homer of his career, moving him into a tie with Matt Bowser for fourth on the UCF career chart. It also was his 13th home run of the season. Duffy opened the year on an eight-game streak, as the only time he has not registered a hit was against North Florida March 3. During the current 20-game streak, Duffy is hitting .481
with nine homers and 32 RBI. Projected to have two freshmen in the starting lineup to begin the season (CF Ronnie Richardson and SS Darnell Sweeney), UCF used five in its lineup in both games against Bethune-Cookman March 30-31. And they all took advantage. The Knights banged out 32 hits in the pair of victories, and the freshmen combined for 21 of those hits (66 percent of the output). All nine regular starters in the UCF batting lineup are carrying batting averages of at least .297. Five players have averages of .359 or better.
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
Looking for Former Golden Eagles Players
The Southern Miss baseball program is trying to contact all former players to notify them of the centennial reunion being held the weekend of the Central Florida series.
As a part of the University of Southern Mississippi's Centennial celebration the athletic department is inviting back all former baseball players and asking them to fill out the questionnaire linked here: (also located on the baseball page of Southernmiss.com) http://southernmiss.cstv.com/ot/09-smis-m-basebl-alumni-form.html
The short form will put them in the email data base to receive updates on the reunion.
The event will start on April 10 and include introducing all former players before the UCF game and attending the Southern Miss spring football game that evening.
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"
The Golden Eagles will have their centennial reunion on Saturday and over 50 former players have already registered to come back and be a part of the celebration. All the former player will be introduced on the field prior to the game and tailgate in the roost.
Former Golden Eagle Major Leaguer Chad Bradford will throw out the first pitch before Saturday's game.
This and every Sunday is Kids run the bases. All children are invited onto the field after the game to run the bases at "The Pete" weather permitting.
**All Promotions and dates are subject to change and availability**
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.
