University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Softball Opens Home Slate with Alabama State
2/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- After starting the 2016 season at the Sand Dollar Classic, the Southern Miss softball team is poised to open the its home slate with a doubleheader against Alabama State at the Southern Miss Softball Complex. First pitch is slated for 4:00 p.m.
Live stats and in-game tweets (@SouthernMissSB) will be available throughout the game. The games will also be streamed on Southern Miss All-Access with Drew Granger handling the play-by-play and Brent Jones providing color commentary.
"We are excited about the opportunity to get back on that field again," Hogue said. "This weekend, we played 32 innings. I think four of those that we probably got beat in, but overall we felt pretty good about how we played.
"We are very excited to get on the field here in Hattiesburg. We have fans out at practice every day. We had a big crowd for Fan Day. We are looking forward to debuting in front of a large home crowd. First 100 fans, popcorn is on me."
The Golden Eagles are 2-3 on the season. The Black and Gold fell 9-7 in extra innings in the season opener to Florida A&M. Southern Miss concluded the first day of the season against Central Arkansas (L, 9-0, 5 innings). The Golden Eagles rebounded on the second day of the Sand Dollar Classic, blasting Ball State, 17-1, in five innings. USM completed the sweep of the day with a 4-1 win against Belmont. Lipscomb recorded a 6-1 victory to close out the Southern Miss' tournament.
Alabama State enters the midweek tilt 1-4 overall on the year, after competing in the Trojan Invitational hosted by Troy. The Lady Hornets opened up 2016 with a pair of losses to Evansville (L, 7-5; L, 2-0) before notching a 9-7 victory in eight innings over Eastern Michigan. ASU was edged in eight innings against Marshall (L, 4-2), before succumbing to tournament-host Troy 9-5 in the event finale.
Southern Miss and Alabama State have met on the softball diamond three times prior to Wednesday's scheduled games. The Golden Eagles swept a doubleheader with the Lady Hornets on March 4, 2004, winning game one, 16-5, and game two, 10-0. In the only other meeting, Southern Miss posted a 10-1 victory on Feb. 22, 2009 in the Southern Miss Mizuno Classic. All three games against Alabama State have been played in Hattiesburg.
