University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Travels to Rice for C-USA Weekend
4/13/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Stats: Southern Miss â€" Rice
TV: None
Radio Network: Hattiesburg (WKZW-FM, 94.3), Jackson (WJDX-AM 620), Columbia (WFFF-FM, 96.7), Pascagoula (WPMO-AM 1580); Southern Miss Gameday App (free)
Live Stats: â€" â€" | Webstream ($)
Pitching Probables (Southern Miss vs. Rice):
Friday - LH Kirk McCarty, Jr. (5-2, 3.12) vs. RH Mike Canterino, Fr. (2-3, 3.63), 6:30 pm
Saturday - RH Hayden Roberts, Jr. (4-1, 2.85) vs. RH Zach Esquival, So. (2-4, 3.48), 2 pm
Sunday â€" RH J.C. Keys, So. (1-1, 4.50) vs. TBA, 1 pm
HATTIESBURG, Miss. â€" The Southern Miss baseball team returns to action this weekend when they take to the road to face Conference USA rival Rice in a three-game series at Reckling Park in Houston, Texas.
The two teams open the set with a 6:30 p.m., contest Friday, before a single contest at 2 p.m., Saturday, and a 1 p.m., series ending game Sunday. All three games can be heard on the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network with the Voice of the Golden Eagles, John Cox.
The Golden Eagles (26-8) look to snap a current two-game losing streak when they meet the Owls (12-23).
The fortunes of the two teams have been drastically different over the first half of the season.
Southern Miss sits in first place in the C-USA standings through the first four weekends of league play with a 10-2 record, having swept both previous road series at Louisiana Tech and WKU. The Golden Eagles currently ride a streak of eight true road wins. The Owls enter the weekend last in the standings with a 3-9 league record.
Still, Scott Berry's Golden Eagle club looks to win their first series in Houston since 2008 and the squad brings in a two-game winning streak over the Owls, which includes a dramatic 3-2 victory in the Conference USA championship game last May. Southern Miss captured three of the four games between the schools a year ago â€" all four decided by one run.
The two schools have met 39 times in baseball since the series began during the 2006 season and Rice holds a 24-15 advantage in the series.
Junior Taylor Braley (Hattiesburg, Miss.) continues to lead the squad in hitting with a .333 batting average, closely followed by senior Dylan Burdeaux (West Monroe, La.) who has hit safely in each of his last 10 games, including eight of those games with two or more hits.
Southern Miss looks to continue its same weekend rotation of left-hander Kirk McCarty, along with right-handers Hayden Roberts and J.C. Keys.
Following the Rice series, the Golden Eagles return to action Tuesday, April 18, when they travel to Biloxi, Miss., at MGM Park to face Nicholls State. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m.
