University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Travels to Houston for Key C-USA Series
5/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 12, 2011
Games 48-50: Southern Miss (36-11, 14-4) at Houston (22-26, 9-9)
May 13-15, 2011/Cougar Field/Houston, Texas
Probables: Friday, 6:30 p.m. - RH Todd McInnis (7-1, 2.90 ERA) vs. TBA
Saturday, 6:30 p.m. - RH Geoffrey Thomas (10-2, 2.56 ERA) vs. TBA
Sunday, 1 p.m. - RH Jonathan Thompson (6-0, 3.23 ERA) vs. TBA
Radio: Southern Miss Sports Network from IMG College - Flagship station is 96.5 (WXHB-FM) in Hattiesburg, 96.7 (WFFF-FM) in Columbia, 620 (WJDX-AM) or 1590 (WRZX-AM) in Jackson and 96.7 (WUJM-FM), 1490 (WXBD-AM) and 1640 (WTNI-AM) in Biloxi-Gulfport
Webstream: Audio and Video available through All-Access at SouthernMiss.com
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - For the No. 12 Southern Miss baseball team, the focus earlier this week was taking final exams to end the spring semester on a strong note as the team did not have any mid-week contests.
With that task now out of the way, the focus for the Golden Eagles (36-11 overall, 14-4 C-USA) can now move on to something else - the Conference USA race.
Southern Miss sits atop the C-USA standings and holds a two-game lead over second-place Rice with six games to play as they travel to Cougar Field to face an up-and-coming Cougar squad.
The Golden Eagles and Cougars have shared a back-and-forth rivalry dating back to the 1990 NCAA Tournament in Baton Rouge, La. UH dominated the series early but over the last few years, Southern Miss has enjoyed some success.
Overall, Southern Miss leads the series 25-23 with them having won five-straight in the series and 13 of the last 14 contests. The Golden Eagles, which are 12-10 in Houston against the Cougars, have won the last four series including three sweeps over that span.
USM also defeated Houston, 10-6, in last year's C-USA Tournament which was played at Cougar Field en route to capturing the postseason title over Rice 7-4 in the championship game.
Heading into the weekend, the Golden Eagles bring a four-game winning streak and five of six league-series wins including three sweeps.
The strength of the team's three phases of the game has allowed them to enjoy their best 47-game start since the 2003 campaign. Offensively, Southern Miss sports a .310 batting average with 40 home runs and a team slugging percentage of .457. Seven players currently are batting over .300, including a team-best .375 average from senior outfielder Tyler Koelling. Junior infielder B.A. Vollmuth leads the team in both home runs (12) and runs batted in (45).
The defense, though, has played equally as well, and leads the country with 69 doubles plays. The Golden Eagles are well on their way to lead the country in that category for the third consecutive season.
As for pitching, Southern Miss posted a 3.36 team earned run average on the strength of five shutouts to go along with three complete games. Starting pitchers have compiled 28-of-47 quality starts (six or more innings pitched with three or fewer earned runs allowed) as they have posted a 25-7 record in 2011.
The rotation of Todd McInnis (7-1, 2.83 ERA), Geoffrey Thomas (10-2, 2.56 ERA) and Jonathan Thompson (6-0, 3.23 ERA), which has enjoyed tremendous success this spring, will continue this weekend at Houston (22-26, 9-9).
Following the Houston series, the Golden Eagles return home to face Rice in their final regular-season contests beginning Thursday, May 19, at 6 p.m.
