University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Opens C-USA Play at Marshall this Weekend
3/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Stats: Southern Miss -- Marshall
TV: None
Radio Network: Hattiesburg (WKZW-FM, 94.3), Jackson (WJDX-AM 620), Columbia (WFFF-FM, 96.7), Gulfport/Biloxi (WTNI-AM 1640/WXBD-AM 1490); Southern Miss Gameday App (free)
Webstream Link ($): Friday
Live Stats: -- -
Pitching Probables --
Friday -- RH Cord Cockrell, Sr. (3-0, 1.73 ERA) vs. RH Chase Boster, Sr. (1-1, 5.56 ERA), 5 pm CT
Saturday-- RH Jake Winston, Sr. (2-0, 4.64 ERA) vs. RH JD Hammer, Sr. (2-2, 6.56 ERA), 3 pm CT
Sunday-- LH Kirk McCarty, So. (1-0, 3.80 ERA) vs. Parker Danciu, Jr. (2-1, 7.64 ERA), 10:30 am CT
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss baseball team opens its 21st Conference USA season this weekend when they travel to Charleston, W.Va., to face Marshall in a three-game series at Appalachian Power Park.
Game times include a 5 p.m., first pitch on Friday, followed by a 3 p.m., start on Saturday and a 10:30 a.m., contest Sunday. All times are Central Standard Time and each game can be heard on the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network as well as the Southern Miss GameDay app, which can be downloaded for free.
The Golden Eagles enter the weekend with a 14-4 record having won three of their last four contests, including a 9-2 victory over Alabama at home Tuesday. The club tied a single-season high with 15 hits in the game and got a career-long outing from senior Nick Johnson in the victory
The 15 hits against the Crimson Tide raised the team's batting average to .305 for the season as four Golden Eagles with 60 or more at bats this season now hold an average of .300 or better.
Graduate transfer Jake Sandlin leads the way with a .391 average, after tallying his first four-hit game for the Golden Eagles, Tuesday, against Alabama. Senior Tim Lynch ranks second on the list at .371 with team bests for runs (17) and RBI (19) for Southern Miss. Fellow senior, Nick Dawson, adds a .355 batting mark with a team-best tying five doubles and 16 RBI, while junior Dylan Burdeaux holds a .324 mark, tallying his third homer of the year earlier this week against the Crimson Tide.
Over the last nine games, Southern Miss' pitching staff allowed more than three earned runs just once to post a 2.41 ERA with 71 strikeouts and 28 walks over that span. The team is 7-2 over this period, which has included strong pitching from its three weekend starters, including senior right-hander Cord Cockrell (3-0, 1.73 ERA), senior right-hander Jake Winston (2-0, 4.64 ERA) and sophomore left-hander Kirk McCarty (1-0, 3.80 ERA).
The Golden Eagles boast a 27-9 overall lead in the Marshall series, which dates back to the 2005 campaign. Southern Miss has won the last five series over the Thundering Herd and are 9-6 all-time in games played in Charleston.
Marshall enters play this weekend with a 9-6 record, after beating Morehead State 6-5 in 12 innings with a game-winning homer earlier in the week.
Following the weekend set, the Golden Eagles end a four-game string away from Pete Taylor Park with a Tuesday, March 22, date with Tulane at MGM Park in Biloxi, Miss. Game time is 7:05 p.m., for that contest.
