University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
This Week In Southern Miss Baseball
5/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 3, 2010
This Week's Schedule
Monday 5/3: Day off/No Practice
Tuesday 5/4: Practice at Pete Taylor Park
Wednesday 5/5: Southern Miss vs Mississipp1 State (Trustmark Park) - 6:30 p.m. CST
Thursday 5/6: Practice at Pete Taylor Park
Friday 5/7: East Carolina at Southern Miss - 6:30 p.m. CST
Saturday 5/8: East Carolina at Southern Miss - 4:00 p.m. CST
Sunday 5/9: East Carolina at Southern Miss - 11:00 p.m. CST
*All practice dates and times are tentative and subject to change without prior notice
TWIB Notes
· Southern Miss went to New Orleans and sweep a three game series from Tulane, never trailing at any point in the three game series.
· It marks the first time Southern Miss has ever won a series in New Orleans and the first time the Golden Eagles have ever swept Tulane in a three game series
· The sweep was the second consecutive weekend sweep for Southern Miss as they took three from Houston the previous weekend, overall the Golden Eagles have won seven straight including a midweek win over South Alabama
· Southern Miss has not trailed at any point in the last 57 innings, dating back to the sixth inning on April 23 vs. Houston. The streak includes the last six games and the final three innings of the Friday night Houston game
· Southern Miss is 8-1 in games that Scott Copeland (6-0) has started on the mound this season, their only loss was to UCF on April 10th in extra innings
· Closer Collin Cargill earned two saves over the weekend, giving him 20 career saves, which ties him with Austin Tubb for third place all-time at Southern Miss
· Freshman Dillon Day has emerged in centerfielder and since taking over the starting role in the UCF series he is hitting ..478 with 5 2B, a 3B, 16 RBI and 14 runs scored
· Day was named the C-SUA hitter of the week for his performance vs. South Alabama and at Tulane
· Todd McInnis has recorded 262 career strikeouts and needs only four more to tie the legendary Ray Guy for sixth place on the Southern Miss all-time list
· The black and gold have already turned 60 double plays through 42 games of 2010, which leads the nation (as of the last NCAA statistics posting on 4/25). The Golden Eagles have had four or more twin killings in three different games this year.
· They led the nation last year with 83 twin-killings.
- Southern Miss turned two triple plays this season, both started by B.A. Vollmuth, it is believed that only eight triple plays have been turned in D1 baseball this season with Southern Miss turning two of them.
Last week in review
Southern Miss has been riding a wave of momentum over the last seven games as they built off last weekends sweep over Houston and took a midweek game from South Alabama and then went to New Orleans and swept Tulane.
Southern Miss used 14 hits to score 15 runs and defeat South Alabama 15-5 at Pete Taylor Park Wednesday
A total of 48 players, 24 for each team, played in the game that took three hours and twenty-three minutes to complete. South Alabama used 10 different pitchers while the Golden Eagles used nine.
The Southern Miss offense pounded out 14 hits and drew 10 walks in the game. Taylor Walker led the attack with two hits, two RBI and three runs scored. Mark Ellis added in two hits and two RBI while Travis Graves had two RBI and two runs score. Tyler Koelling also had two hits and two runs scored as well.
On the mound Southern Miss used the one pitcher an inning method and ran nine different pitchers to the bump. Jeff Stanley, Mandella Mingo, Geoffrey Thomas, Cody Schlagel, Jay Myrick and Collin Cargill each worked a scoreless inning.
The Southern Miss baseball team then went to New Orleans and swept Tulane out of their own stadium in the three game Conference USA series. Southern Miss pounded out 15 hits in a 16-2 rout of Tulane in the Conference USA series opener Friday night in New Orleans.
The first six inning looked like a pitchers duel with the Golden Eagles holding a slim 2-0 advantage, but Southern Miss erupted for 14 runs in their final three at bats including a 10 run ninth inning to put the game out of reach for Tulane.
Scott Copeland (6-0) turned in another outstanding outing tonight, working 5.1 innings allowing only two hits while striking four. He stranded two runners in each of the first three innings to keep Tulane off the board. The Golden Eagles are now 8-1 this season in games he has started.
Paxton King threw very well in relief of Copeland, working 2.2 innings allowing three hits, two of which were solo home runs, and striking out three. Jay Myrick finished off the ninth inning allowing one hit.
Todd McInnis held the Tulane offense to one run over seven innings as Southern Miss took game two of the of the series over Tulane, 4-2 in New Orleans Saturday afternoon.
McInnis (4-4) was outstanding once again, working seven innings allowing only one runs on seven hits while striking out six, the difference is today he was given enough run support to pick up the win.
Collin Cargill picked up his sixth save of the season, working the final two frames allowing one run on one hit.
Tulane was able to get runners on base but could not get them around to score as they were one-for-eight with runners in scoring position. McInnis educed two-double play balls and had several big strikeouts to keep the Wave at bay.
It was Dillon Day who had the big blow, a two-RBI triple in the second inning. And Travis Graves has the only other RBI with a single in the eighth.
The Golden Eagles finished off the sweep with a 13-9 win Sunday afternoon.
Southern Miss once again jumped out to with a lead, thanks to six runs in the first two inning, and held off a late Tulane charge to preserve the sweep. The Golden Eagles did not trail at any point in the three game series.
The Week's Opponents
Mississippi State enters Wednesday's contest after dropping three games over the weekend to Ole Miss in Starkville. The Bulldogs have actually dropped their last six contests suffering a three game sweep in Tuscaloosa to the Crimson Tide two weeks ago. State posts a 20-23 record and are 5-16 in the SEC. In head coach John Cohen's first two year in Starkville the Dawgs are 45-52
East Carolina took two-of-three from Marshall over the weekend. Sophomore 3B Corey Thompson batted a team-best .529 (9-for-17) last week, which included hitting for the cycle on Friday vs. Marshall. He had two home runs, six RBI, scored seven runs, collected 16 total bases and slugged at a 1.059 clip. Sophomore C Zach Wright recorded his second career multi-home run game of the season when he blasted a pair of three-run shots against Marshall on Saturday. He drove in a career-best six RBI while also drawing a pair of walks. He currently leads the team with 13 round-trippers and is tied with Thompson with 46 RBI. Junior 2B Cam Freeman (third) and junior OF Trent Whitehead (second) also hit home runs on the week to highlight ECU's seven homer week. Freeman was homerless for 108 at-bats before he hit his solo shot to right center against Marshall on Saturday to lead off the fourth frame. Whitehead hit a solo shot at UNC Wilmington leading off the fifth inning, starting a five-run frame. Junior RHP Zach Woods improved to 6-2 on the season after picking up his second conference win in the series opener against Marshall. The right-hander scattered five hits over eight frames which included three over the final six innings.
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. 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 for seven weeks in the NCBWA Poll, including this week.
Professional Eagles
Jarrett Hoffpauir - Toronto Blue Jays Class AAA
Jarrett is hitting .345 in 22 games with three homers, 13 RBI and 13 runs score this season for the Las Vegas 51's. He has hit five doubles and a triple while drawing 10 walks and struck out only one time in 84 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 .232 in the first 21 games this season
Bo Davis - San Diego Padres Class A
Davis is playing his first full season of pro baseball with the Fort Wayne Tincaps in the Midwest League. He is currently hitting .207 with three triples and four 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 .280 with three doubles and eight RBI in his first 21 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 11.2 innings in seven games and recorded one save while holding opponents to a .136 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 five games with a 6.53 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 eight games this season and worked 7.2 innings while recording three saves and holing opponents to a .087 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 0-1 working 8.1 innings in six game this season
Toddric Johnson- Oakland A's Class A
Johnson is with the Stockton Ports of the California League and is yet to make an appearance this year
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 took two-of-three from Marshall over the weekend. Sophomore 3B Corey Thompson batted a team-best .529 (9-for-17) last week, which included hitting for the cycle on Friday vs. Marshall. He had two home runs, six RBI, scored seven runs, collected 16 total bases and slugged at a 1.059 clip. Sophomore C Zach Wright recorded his second career multi-home run game of the season when he blasted a pair of three-run shots against Marshall on Saturday. He drove in a career-best six RBI while also drawing a pair of walks. He currently leads the team with 13 round-trippers and is tied with Thompson with 46 RBI. Junior 2B Cam Freeman (third) and junior OF Trent Whitehead (second) also hit home runs on the week to highlight ECU's seven homer week. Freeman was homerless for 108 at-bats before he hit his solo shot to right center against Marshall on Saturday to lead off the fourth frame. Whitehead hit a solo shot at UNC Wilmington leading off the fifth inning, starting a five-run frame. Junior RHP Zach Woods improved to 6-2 on the season after picking up his second conference win in the series opener against Marshall. The right-hander scattered five hits over eight frames which included three over the final six innings.
HOUSTON
The Cougars swept a doubleheader at UAB on Saturday to win the series two games to one. It was Houston's first C-USA doubleheader sweep since knocking off TCU on May 18, 2002. After hitting 25 home runs in the first 40 games of the season, the Houston bats exploded by hitting 10 round-trippers in the series vs. the Blazers. Senior C Chris Wallace finished the five-game week with a .350 batting average (7-for-20), hit three home runs and led the team with eight RBI and 16 total bases. He recorded all three of his home runs against UAB, including two in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Wallace had seven RBI in the three-game series. Freshman DH M.P. Cokinos was 4-for- 8 in Saturday's doubleheader with a double, two home runs and three RBI. Junior OF Joel Ansley was 6-for-14 (.429) last week with a double, a home run, four RBI and four stolen bases. After drawing seven walks in the first 37 games he played this season, he walked seven times in five games last week. Freshman RHP Tanner Shiflett went a career-long 5.2 innings in relief in an extra-inning win over Lamar last Wednesday. He struck out a career-high seven batters in the outing, while only giving up one run on two hits. He struck out the side in the eighth inning and after giving up a hit in the fifth inning, he did not allow another hit until the 10th. Freshman RHP Eric Brooks turned in a career-long seven inning effort in game two on Saturday, posting a career-high-tying five strikeouts.
MARSHALL
The Thundering Herd picked up a win in the series finale at East Carolina on Sunday after dropping the first two games. At 10-8 in conference play, Marshall has matched its highest win total in league play, set by the 2008 Herd. Junior RHP Arik Sikula continued to have strong outings against Conference USA opponents this season, improving to 3-0 in league play (6-2 overall) with the victory over ECU. He fired the first six innings against the Pirates, surrendering just one earned run on five singles with a career-high eight strikeouts. Three of the five hits he surrendered came in the first frame, as he held ECU to just two base knocks over the next five innings. On Sunday, senior RHP Tyler Gatrell has moved into second place in Marshall history in appearances with 83. The Herd pitching staff combined for 10-or-more K's twice in the series (Saturday and Sunday) and has accomplished that six times this season. Junior C Victor Gomez and junior OF Kurt Lipton each collected two multi-hit games in the ECU series and now have 20 and 17 on the season, respectively. V. Gomez (Friday) and Lipton (Saturday) each registered multihomer games in series. MU now has four players with two homers in a game this season - sophomore OF Eric Semeniuk and sophomore IF Thor Meeks are the others.
MEMPHIS
Memphis won the last two games of the weekend series at UCF to clinch its fourth league series of the year. The Tigers four league series wins is the most by a Memphis team since 2007. The U of M's 3-1 week improved it to 22-22 on the year, eclipsing the club's win total from the 2009 season. The 22 wins are also the most for Memphis since winning 36 in the 2007 Regional season. Sophomore SS Chad Zurcher went 9-for-18 (.500) with seven RBI, three runs scored, two doubles and a home run in four games last week. He collected multiple hits in all three games at UCF to increase his hitting streak to 16-straight games. Zurcher has now hit safely in 32 of his last 33 games. He got his week started with two hits and a career-high five RBI to help Memphis past UL-Monroe on Wednesday. Sophomore IF Heath Hatfield went 3-for-5 with a career-high four RBI in Sunday's 10- inning win. Senior RHP Ryan Fraser picked up his third-straight Saturday win with a strong eight-inning outing to lead the U of M to a 10-6 win over the Knights. He scattered seven hits and fanned six, while giving up three runs. Fraser's 82 strikeouts this season are the most by a Memphis pitcher since Derek Hankins recorded 114 K's in 2004.
RICE
Rice did not play last week while team took final exams. The Owls will return to action on Tuesday with a game against Texas State that was re-scheduled after being rained out on Feb. 23. Rice remains in sole possession of first place in the Conference USA standings with an 11-4 league record, 2.5 games ahead of Memphis and Marshall. The Owls have won nine of their last 11 games, dating back to April 10. In his last 15 games, senior 1B Jimmy Comerota is batting .491 (27-of-55) with two home runs and four doubles for a .673 slugging percentage. He's also scored 22 times, driven-in 18 runs, stole four bases and maintained a .567 on-base percentage. Sophomore LHP Taylor Wall was 3-0 in four April appearances with a 1.78 ERA. He has held all opponents to a composite .179 batting average and struck out 24 in 30.1 innings. After 15 C-USA games, junior RF Chad Mozingo is batting .492 against the league. He has 32 hits in the 15 games, including six doubles and a triple. Mozingo has scored 17 times, driven-in 17 runs, stole seven bases and maintained a .526 on-base percentage. Sophomore 3B Anthony Rendon has a team-leading 14 home runs on the season and 34 in less than two full seasons in a Rice uniform.
SOUTHERN MISS
Southern Miss went to New Orleans and swept a three game series from Tulane, never trailing at any point in the three game series. The sweep was the second consecutive weekend sweep for the Golden Eagles as they took three from Houston the previous weekend. Overall, USM has won seven straight, including a midweek victory over South Alabama last Tuesday. Southern Miss is now 8-1 in games that senior RHP Scott Copeland (6-0) has started on the mound this season after posting a 16-2 win on Friday night at Tulane. The Eagles' only loss was to UCF on April 10th in extra innings. Junior RHP Todd McInnis had a strong outing in Saturday's 4-2 win, allowing one run on seven hits over seven innings, striking out six and walking three. His 2.96 ERA this season is the lowest in Conference USA. Junior closer Collin Cargill earned two saves over the weekend, giving him 20 in his career, which ties him with Austin Tubb for third place alltime at Southern Miss. He has saved four of the Golden Eagles' last six victories. Freshman Dillon Day has emerged in center field and since taking over the starting role in the UCF series, he is hitting .478 with 5 2B, a 3B, 16 RBI and 14 runs scored. Junior OF Tyler Koelling batted .500 (6-for-12) last week with a double, a home run and five RBI. He also drew three walks and was hit by a pitch, posting a .5 on-base percentage.
TULANE
The Green Wave dropped all three games to Southern Miss this past weekend. Sophomore 3B Rob Segedin extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a hit in each contest last week and in the process pushed his batting average to .434 on the season. Segedin drove in an RBI in two games and scored a run in every game and now has scored at least one run in 11 straight contests. He reached base at least twice in each outing and walked in three of four games last week. Freshman C Blake Crohan batted .429 (6-for-14) last week with a double, a home run and seven RBI, including five in Sunday's series finale. Senior LHP Matt Petiton made his second straight quality start last Tuesday vs. Louisiana-Lafayette as he picked up his second victory in a row. The senior retired the side in order three times and faced more than five batters in an inning only once. Petiton allowed just three runners to reach third base and didn't allow an extrabase hit in the contest. He hasn't allowed more than one run in any of his last six appearances.
UAB
The Blazers dropped two-of-three games against Houston this past weekend. Because of the forecast for impending bad weather, UAB and Houston moved their Sunday game up to a Saturday doubleheader. It was the fifth doubleheader of the season for the Blazers and the third as the result of weather. The Blazers dropped the games by scores of 16-11 and 7-4. Despite the two losses Saturday, UAB is still 7-3 in the 10 games over those five twin bills this season. The Blazers matched their season-high in conference play with 15 hits in Friday's series opener with Houston. Eight UAB players recorded a hit and senior RHP Mitch Kloskowski worked seven strong innings as the Blazers earned an 11-6 win. He allowed two runs on five hits while striking out five. Senior 1B Luke Stewart homered four times last week to raise his season total to 15, matching his output from last year and tying the sixth-highest single season mark in school history. Stewart's 43 career home runs as a Blazer rank second all-time in program history. In the finale of UAB's weekend series with Houston, he went deep twice for his fourth multiple homer game of the season. He also scored nine times last week, while batting .455 (10-for-22).
UCF
The Knights dropped the final two games of the weekend series with Memphis. With three hits Sunday, senior OF Shane Brown pushed his season total to 75, setting a career high. He also banged out his 55th career double to move into a tie for second on the UCF all-time list. The Knights are still hitting .334 as a team with 63 home runs. A total of nine players are hitting at least .295, with senior OF Chris Duffy holding a .435 mark and Brown at .419. Duffy (17), Brown (8), junior IF Jonathan Griffin (8), Chris Taladay (7), sophomore C Beau Taylor (6) and freshman C Ryan Breen (5) all have hit at least five homers this year. Freshman OF Ronnie Richardson batted .417 (5-for-12) against Memphis with two home runs, seven RBI and four runs scored. Included was a grand slam in Friday night's 11-8 victory. With 14 hits on Sunday, UCF has amassed at least 14 hits in 17 games this season. The Knights are one of only two teams in the country (Alabama A&M) to be consistently starting five freshmen in the batting order (minimum 30
starts).
Awards and Honors
C-USA Pitcher of the Week
Todd McInnis (2/22)
Scott Copeland (3/15)
C-USA Hitter of the Week
Dillon Day (5/3)
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
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.
