University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
This Week in Southern Miss Baseball
5/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 17, 2010
This Week's Schedule
Monday 5/17: Practice at Pete Taylor Park
Tuesday 5/18: Mississippi State at No. 29 Southern Miss- 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday 5/19: Practice at Pete Taylor Park
Thursday 5/20: Memphis at No. 29 Southern Miss -6:30 p.m.
Friday 5/21: Memphis at No. 29 Southern Miss -6:30 p.m.
Saturday 5/22: Memphis at No. 29 Southern Miss -1:00 p.m.
Sunday 5/23: Day off/No Practice
*All practice dates and times are tentative and subject to change without prior notice
TWIB Notes
· For the second consecutive week Southern Miss is in the national polls, though they fell from No. 27 to No. 29 this week
· Southern Miss tied the second longest winning streak in school history at 12 games with their Saturday win at Rice
· Sophomore B.A. Vollmuth had his best career series at Rice, this past weekend. Over the three game set he hit .615 (8/13) with four home runs, 11 RBI, six runs scored, three walks and 21 total bases while slugging 1.625 and a .688 on base percentage.
· For his efforts he was named one of seven "Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week" and Co-C-USA Hitter of the Week
· Junior Pitcher Todd McInnis was selected as one of three finalist for the Boo Ferris award, given annually to the top player from the state of Mississippi
· Over the last 14 games the Golden Eagles swept ECU, went to New Orleans and sweep a three game series from Tulane, and took three from Houston in Hattiesburg and took one from Rice in Houston.
· Southern Miss is 10-1 in games that Scott Copeland (8-0) has started on the mound this season, their only loss was to UCF on April 10th in extra innings
· Freshman Dillon Day has emerged in centerfield and since taking over the starting role in the UCF series he is hitting .427 with 6 2B, a 3B, 24 RBI and 20 runs scored
· Junior Tyler Koelling had one of his best career games vs. Rice on Saturday, going five-for-five including a three run home run and a double. He tallied four RBI and scored two runs in the game
- The black and gold have already turned 67 double plays through 49 games of 2010, which leads the nation (as of the last NCAA statistics posting on 5/11).
Last week in review
Because of last weeks final exams the Golden Eagles did not play a midweek game and because of weather in Houston the black and gold did not play on Friday and was forced to play a double header on Saturday at Rice.
Southern Miss ran their winning streak to 12 games with an 11-10 victory in game one of the DH but saw their streak snap with a 10-2 loss in the night cap.
The first game saw Southern Miss jump out to a 11-2 lead and hold on for a 11-10 victory. Scott Copeland improved to 8-0 on the season and Tyler Koelling was five-for-five in the game.
In game two B.A. Vollmuth hit his second home run of the day, a two-run shot in the first inning but Rice scored 10 unanswered runs and held Southern Miss scoreless in the final eight frames
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Southern Miss scored 12 runs in their first three at bats but Rice scored 19 consecutive runs to take the series with a 21-14 victory Sunday afternoon at Reckling Park in Houston.
Sophomore B.A. Vollmuth had a career day at the plate for the Golden Eagles. On the afternoon he was four-for-five with two home runs, a grand slam and a three-run shot, a double, walk, seven RBI and two runs scored.
In the Rice series he hit .615 (8/13) with four home runs, 11 RBI, six runs scored, three walks and 21 total bases while slugging 1.625 and a .688 on base percentage.
Freshman Dillon Day along with Joey Archer and Marc Bourgeois each added in pair of hits and a run scored as well. Bourgeois also had two RBI. Mark Ellis and Kameron Brunty both homered for Southern Miss as well.
The Week's Opponents
Southern Miss will host Mississippi State at "The Pete" on Tuesday. The Diamond Dogs have struggled about as bad as possible as of late, dropping 14 of their last 15 games. Included in that streak is a 14-3 loss to Southern Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss.
The Southern Miss offense pounded out 16 hits and scored 14 runs. With State ahead 3-2 the Golden Eagles took control of the game in the late innings, scoring 12 runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. The big inning was the seventh when Southern Miss sent 11 batters to the plate to score seven runs, the Golden Eagles never looked back from there.
Taylor Walker and B.A Vollmuth led the charge at the plate with three hits a piece. Walker scored three runs while Vollmuth scored two. Adam Doleac added in two hits and three RBI as well.
Jeff Stanley worked the first two innings without allowing a hit, facing only one over the minimum and striking out one. Mandella Mingo threw one inning giving up the only State runs of the game, allowing three of the eight batters he faced to score. Geoffrey Thomas (1.2 IP), Paxton King (1.0 IP), Jay Myrick (1.1 IP) and Cody Schlagel (2.0 IP) combined to hold Mississippi State scoreless over the final six frames. King (2-1) received the victory, the second of his career.
Memphis opened their series at No. 14 Oklahoma with a 4-3 victory on Friday night before dropping the final two games of the series. The win marked the fourth victory of the season for the Tigers over a top 20 team. Sophomore 3B Jacob Wilson had multiple hits in all three games of the series, going 7-for-12 (.583), doubling twice and driving in a pair of runs. Sophomore 2B Adam McClain has extended his hitting streak to 18 games after picking up five hits against the Sooners, while sophomore OF Drew Martinez has now hit safely in 20 consecutive outings after also notching five hits in the series. McClain becomes the third different Memphis player to have a hitting streak of 16 games or longer this season (sophomore SS Chad Zurcher had a pair of 16-game hitting streaks). Sophomore RHP Heath Hatfield picked up his fourth victory of the season against Murray
State on May 12, allowing one run on five hits and striking out six without walking a batter.
In The Polls
After spending the first three weeks of the season in the top 25 Southern Miss fell from the polls in week three but has been back in the polls the last two weeks. This week the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll has the Golden Eagles at No. 29.
The Golden Eagles have been ranked as high as No. 21 this season.
Southern Miss has also been listed in the "Others Receiving Votes" category s nine times in the NCBWA Poll, including the past three weeks
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
23- LSU (0-1)
26- Ole Miss (0-2)
28- Rice (1-2)
34- La. Lafayette (2-1)
62- South Alabama (1-1)
67- Troy (PPD)
70- Mississippi State (1-0)
71- East Carolina (3-0)
76- Northwestern State (2-1)
82- Central Florida (0-3)
85- Tulane (3-0)
89- Houston (3-0)
82- Central Florida (0-3)
99- Memphis
Professional Eagles
Jarrett Hoffpauir - Toronto Blue Jays Class AAA
Jarrett is hitting .331 in 36 games with five homers, 23 RBI and 24 runs score this season for the Las Vegas 51's. He has hit six doubles and a triple while drawing 18 walks and struck out only eight times in 139 at bats
Marc Maddox - Kansas City Royals Class AAA
Maddox is playing for the Omaha Royals in the Pacific Coast League where Rosenblatt Stadium is his home field. Currently he is hitting .269 in the first 32 games this season
Bo Davis - San Diego Padres Class A
Davis is playing his first full season of pro baseball in 2010. He started the season with the Fort Wayne Tincaps in the Midwest League. Where he hit .213 with three triples and five RBI but was promoted last week to the Lake Elsinore Storm in the California League (High A Ball). Thus far with the Storm he has played in two games where he is 1-for-3 with three RBI
Brian Dozier- Minnesota Twins Class A
Dozier is adjusting nicely to his first season of pro ball play for the Beloit Snappers in the Class A Midwest League. He is hitting .2884 with six doubles, a triple and 14 RBI in his first 34 games
JR Ballinger- Chicago White Sox Class A
Ballinger is working out of the bullpen for the Kannapolis Intimidators which is in the South Atlantic League. Thus far he has worked 16.2 innings in 12 games and recorded one save while holding opponents to a .143 average He has not allowed an earned run this season.
Brian Leach- Pittsburg Pirates Class A
Leach is currently playing for the Bradenton Marauders in the Class A Florida State League. He is 2-1 in seven games with a 6.51 ERA
Barry Bowden- Kansas City Royals Class A
Bowden is working as the closer for the Wilmington Blue Rocks in the Class A Advanced Carolina League. He was appeared in 13 games this season and worked 17.0 innings while recording four saves and holding opponents to a .217 average
Tyler Conn- Detroit Tigers Class A
Conn is working out of the bullpen for the Lakeland Flying Tigers of the Class A Advanced Florida State League. The Golden Eagles single season save leader is 0-2 working 14.0 innings in 10 games this season
Toddric Johnson- Oakland A's Class A
Johnson is with the Stockton Ports of the California League and played in his first five games this past week. He is hitting .227 with two doubles, a home run and a RBI
Josh Billeaud- Chicago White Sox Rookie League
Billeaud is still in the White Sox organization and will likely be assigned to a team once the short season begin after the June free agent draft
Around Conference USA
EAST CAROLINA
The Pirates won the first two games of their series at UCF over the weekend before dropping the series finale on Sunday. In Friday's 11-6 win, junior RHP Zach Woods improved to 8-3 after working 6.1 innings with eight strikeouts (his sixth quality start of the season). Senior DH Kyle Roller did not record an official at bat (one walk, four hit by pitches) and scored three runs. His four HBP is a new single-game school record. Junior OF Trent Whitehead was 3-for-6 with a home run and two RBI, while senior C Jared Avchen was 3-for-4 with a homer and a career-best five RBI. Avchen hit another home run on Sunday and finished the series going 7-for-12 (.583) with two doubles, eight RBI and five runs scored. Junior RHP Seth Maness worked seven strong innings on Saturday, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits with four strikeouts. He improved to 27-8 for his career and 17-3 all-time against Conference USA members. With the victory he moved into a tie for fourth place in the C-USA annals and sixth place on ECU's charts. Fellow classmate Seth Simmons notched his league eading ninth save (20th career), going 1 1/3 innings where he allowed one run on two hits.
HOUSTON
The Cougars won the series over Marshall, two games to one and finished the home portion of the conference season at 7-5. Houston will close the regular season at East Carolina next weekend and can earn a berth in the C-USA Championship by winning one, two or three games, depending on the results of other games. Junior OF Caleb Ramsey recorded multiple hits in each game of the Marshall series, scoring three times and driving in three runs. Freshman DH M.P. Cokinos hit .500 (6-for-12) against the Herd, scoring once and driving in two runs. In Sunday's 5-3 win, freshman RHP Eric Brooks allowed only one run with a career-high six strikeouts in 7.2 innings. Brooks, who improved to 5-2 this season, did not allow any runs until the eighth inning and allowed only one base runner past second base through the first seven frames. Senior OF Zak Presley ranks fourth in the league in walks (38) and sixth in on-base percentage (.490). In league games, Presley is batting .395 with 18 walks, 11 stolen bases and 16 RBI in 21 contests.
MARSHALL
The Thundering Herd dropped two-of-three at Houston over the weekend to finish the conference season with a 12-12 record. The 12 league wins are the most in Marshall's five seasons as a member of Conference USA. The Herd won game two of Saturday's doubleheader, 5-3. In that win, sophomore LHP Mike Mason twirled a career-high 7.0 innings and fanned six to pick up his first C-USA victory of the season. He scattered six hits and allowed two runs, both earned, as he kept the Cougars offense that had pounded out 11 runs on16 hits earlier in the day to just a run in the first and seventh frames. Junior C Victor Gomez was 4-for-5 in that game, his sixth career game with four or more hits. He hit his 45th career home run (16th this season) in game one and finished the series with six hits in 10 at-bats (.600) with five RBI. Senior OF Kurt Lipton set the MU single season triples record in game one Saturday with his league-leading seventh three-bagger. Senior RHP Austin Coan set the MU single-season saves record when he notched his ninth of the year on Saturday. He now has 217 saves over the past two seasons.
MEMPHIS
The Tigers opened their series at No. 14 Oklahoma with a 4-3 victory on Friday night before dropping the final two games of the series. The win marked the fourth victory of the season for the Tigers over a top 20 team. Sophomore 3B Jacob Wilson had multiple hits in all three games of the series, going 7-for-12 (.583), doubling twice and driving in a pair of runs. Sophomore 2B Adam McClain has extended his hitting streak to 18 games after picking up five hits against the Sooners, while sophomore OF Drew Martinez has now hit safely in 20 consecutive outings after also notching five hits in the series. McClain becomes the third different Memphis player to have a hitting streak of 16 games or longer this season (sophomore SS Chad Zurcher had a pair of 16-game hitting streaks). Sophomore RHP Heath Hatfield picked up his fourth victory of the season against Murray
State on May 12, allowing one run on five hits and striking out six without walking a batter.
RICE
Rice clinched at least a share of its fourth C-USA regular season championship in five years with a 21-14 come-from-behind victory Southern Miss on Sunday. The Owls also clinched the No. 1 seed in the C-USA Championship to be held May 26-29 in Houston. Rice has now won or shared 15-consecutive conference crowns (either regular season or tournament titles) in three different leagues since 1996 (Southwest Conference, Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA). Sophomore 3B Anthony Rendon has now surpassed his single-season home run total from his freshman year (20). The 41 career round-trippers is the fifth-highest total in Rice history and he now needs only one more to move into a tie for fourth on the Owls' all-time list. The reigning C-USA Player of the Year has kept his home run total (21) higher than his strikeout total (18) all year long. Senior C/DH Diego Seastrunk had a sensational week at the plate, going 8-for-18 (.444) with three doubles and a home run for an .778 slugging percentage. He also drew two walks for a .500 on-base average and did some serious climbing in the Rice career record books. Seastrunk vaulted into fourth on the school's all-time list for hits with 269, fifth on Rice's career list for doubles with 58 and seventh on the Owls' all-time list for RBI with 183 - all in one weekend. After 21 C-USA games junior right fielder Chad Mozingo is batting an eye-opening .452 against the league. Mozingo has 42 hits in the 21 games, including seven doubles, two triples and a home run for a .602 slugging percentage. Mozingo has scored 26 times, driven-in 24 runs, stole eight bases and maintained a .509 on-base percentage in conference action.
SOUTHERN MISS
The Golden Eagles won the first game of Saturday's doubleheader at No. 21 Rice to run their winning streak to 12 games before dropping the final two outings of the series with the Owls. The streak ties the 2005 and the 1997 teams for the second-longest winning streak in school history. At 30-19, Southern Miss has won at least 30 games in a season for the ninth year in a row and 24th time in the past 25 seasons. Junior OF Tyler Koelling led the charge in game one, going 5-for-5 including a three run home run. He tallied four RBI and scored two runs in the game while establishing a career high with the five hits. Senior RHP Scott Copeland had another quality start to improve to 8-0 on the season. He worked seven innings, allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out six.
Junior 1B Mark Ellis had five hits and four RBI in the series, including his fifth and sixth home runs of the season. He extended his hitting streak to 12 games. The Golden Eagles dropped a wild Sunday contest, 21-14, despite scoring 12 runs in the for three innings. Included was had one of their biggest innings of the season in the top of the third, sending 12 hitters to the plate and scoring eight runs.
TULANE
The Green Wave dropped two-of-three at UAB over the weekend. Saturday's 11-8 victory was the team's 30th of the season, marking the 15th straight season that Tulane has won 30 or more games. Sophomore 3B Rob Segedin continued his outstanding season, posting five hits in the first two games and closing out the series with three doubles, a home run, four RBI and four runs scored. His 27 doubles lead Conference USA and he also tops the circuit in batting average (.436), slugging percentage (.810) and total bases (158). Sophomore 1B Matt Ryan and freshman 2B Brennan Middleton each hit safely in all three games at UAB, with Ryan driving in five runs, while Middleton doubled twice and drove in four. Middleton and sophomore C Jeremy Schaffer have each hit safely in eight straight games. Junior RHP Nick Pepitone picked up his eighth save of the season on
Saturday, firing 2.2 scoreless innings
UAB
UAB claimed its second straight conference series victory by taking two out of three from Tulane over the weekend. The Blazers rallied from a 5-1 deficit Sunday, using a seven run sixth inning to propel them to the series-clincher. The Blazers started the weekend with an 8-4 win Friday as Brian Shoop earned his 800th career victory as a head coach. Senior 1B Luke Stewart homered twice in the game and freshman RF Ryan Ussery finished a homer shy of the cycle, while senior RHP Mitch Kloskowski allowed only two runs over seven complete innings, striking out five. Friday marked Stewart's fifth multiple homer game of the year, and he finished with three on the weekend. His 19 homers this year are four shy of the UAB single-season record, while his 47 career long balls as a Blazer are two shy of the program's all-time mark. Senior SS Jonathan Merritt scored
two runs in the Saturday game against Tulane to become the all-time runs scored leader in UAB history. After adding another run Sunday, he now owns 191 career runs. He also set the Blazer record for career at-bats earlier in the week against Jacksonville State. Sophomore OF Jamal Austin batted .429 (6-for-14) last week with three stolen bases, a double, five RBI and six runs scored.
UCF
The Knights were 3-2 last week, winning a pair of non-conference games over Jacksonville before dropping two-of-three against East Carolina. UCF carries a 14-game non-conference winning streak into Tuesday's game against Florida Atlantic. With 31 wins, the Knights have tied for their most overall victories since their last season in the Atlantic Sun in 2005 when they had 42. UCF has set the school's single-season record for home runs as it now has hit 70 round-trippers in 2010. That charge has been led by senior OF Chris Duffy, who matched UCF's single-season mark for homers when he launched No. 18 vs. East Carolina on Sunday. He also has 71 RBI this year, which is the fourth-most by a Knight in a single-season. Duffy now ranks in a tie for third all-time at UCF with 40 career homers. Senior OF Shane Brown has extended his hitting streak to 11 games after a 7-for-15 (.467) week in which he hit two doubles, homered and drove in eight runs. Brown also was plunked for the 20th time this year on Friday, which is one shy of tying the single-season record. He already owns the career record at UCF with 53 HBP. Junior LHP Nick Cicio posted a seven-inning, complete-game victory on in
Sunday's 14-1 win over ECU, allowing just three hits. It was the Knights first complete game and first three-hitter since the 2008 season. Cicio now leads the team with 56 strikeouts on the season.
Awards and Honors
LouisvilleSlugger/Collegiate Baseball
National Player of the Week
B.A. Vollmuth (5/17)
C-USA Pitcher of the Week
Todd McInnis (2/22)
Scott Copeland (3/15)
Todd McInnis (5/10)
C-USA Hitter of the Week
Dillon Day (5/3)
B.A. Vollmuth (5/17)
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
Golden Spikes Award Watch List (Nations Top Player)
COSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District
Boo Ferris Award Fianlist
(Mississippi Player of the Year)
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
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.
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.
