University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Welcomes Missouri State for Three This Weekend
3/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 10, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - After having both of its mid-week games rained out this week, the Southern Miss baseball team will finish its current homestand this weekend when they entertain Missouri State in a three-game series, beginning Friday at 6 p.m., at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
The series concludes with a 2 p.m., Saturday contest and then a 1 p.m., Sunday affair.
The Golden Eagles (8-3) have not seen any action since last Sunday when they split a twinbill with Louisiana-Lafayette. The team's contests earlier this week, versus South Alabama (Tues., March 8) and Alabama A&M (Wed., March 9), were postponed due to the bad weather in the Pine Belt and will be made up at a later date.
Southern Miss captured the opening game of that doubleheader 6-5, before losing the nightcap 8-4. The loss was the first setback at home this season as the Golden Eagles have accumulated a 6-1 home record in 2011 at "The Pete."
A major reason for the nice start has been because of the team's solid offense. Five Golden Eagles continue to hit over .300 for the season, and USM has been led by senior Tyler Koelling who has posted a .395 batting with five runs batted in. Koelling is followed by senior Adam Doleac, along with sophomores Isaac Rodriguez and Travis Creel at .333 apiece. Senior Marc Bourgeois is batting .308.
Junior B.A. Vollmuth and senior Mark Ellis lead the Golden Eagles in home runs with a two each, while Vollmuth also paces the squad in RBI with 11.
Defensively, the Golden Eagles continue turn double plays as they have 18 over the first 11 games and have posted a .979 fielding percentage, making just nine errors to start the campaign.
In the series opener, the Golden Eagles will pitch senior junior righthander Jonathan Thompson (1-0, 6.75 ERA) and he will square off with Bear righthander Grant Gordon, who is 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA this season.
Southern Miss coach Scott Berry had not decided on his other two starters heading into the weekend on Thursday afternoon.
The two teams' baseball history dates back to the 1990 season as the squads will meet for the 16th time on the diamond on Friday. The Golden Eagles hold a 10-5 advantage in the series, including a current seven-game winning streak over the Bears (8-4). Southern Miss swept MSU in their three-game set last season.
