South Alabama Sports Weekend Update
Baseball
After a setback in the first game against Western Kentucky, South Alabama rebounded to win the next two to clinch the series.
On Friday night, the Hilltoppers used a five run sixth inning to defeat the Jags 10-8. Tanner Perkins allowed two runs on six hits while striking out four with only one walk in six innings of work for the ‘toppers.
Jarron Cito took the loss in five innings of work by allowing seven runs on six hits with one strikeout and three walks.
On Saturday, the Jags used a four-run sixth inning to defeat the ‘toppers by a score of 6-3 to even the series and set up the rubber match on Sunday.
After five-and-a-half innings, the Jags and ‘toppers were tied at 1-1, but three hits and four runs later the Jags were in control at 5-1.
Matt Bell went 5 1/3 innings while only giving up two hits, one run, three walks and five strikeouts but got a no decision in the game. James Traylor came in and pitched 2/3rds of an inning of shutout, no hit ball while picking up the win. Dylan Stamey pitched two innings and allowed six hits, two runs, two walks and two strikeouts.
But Kyle Bartsch pitched a perfect ninth inning to pick up the 19th save of his career and to become the school’s all-time saves leader.
On Sunday, the Jags clinched the series with a 7-5 win over the Hilltoppers at Eddie Stanky Field. After the weekend series the Jaguars improved their overall record to 29-12 (12-6 SBC) while Western Kentucky fell to 21-19 overall for the season and 11-7 in Sun Belt play.
After WKU scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game up at 5-5. But the Jags responded in the bottom of the inning to plate two runs for the final margin of 7-5.
Jacob Noble pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed two earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks. James Traylor picked up his second win on 2/3rds of an inning of work with one hit and one walk. Kyle Bartsch pitched two shutout innings with two walks and two strikeouts to earn his 10th save of the season and 20th save of his career.
With the series win, the Jags take a one game lead in the Sun Belt Conference standings. Troy, FAU and Western Kentucky are all tied for second place one game behind the Jags in the standings.
The Jags will host a two-game midweek series against Jacksonville State University on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Softball
The lady Jaguar softball team swept another conference opponent as the Jags earned two run-rule decisions against Louisiana-Monroe in Louisiana.
On Saturday, the Jags won both games of the doubleheader by a combined score of 25-1. The Jags combined the for 21 hits with six home runs to win the games by scores of 11-1 and 14-0.
Haley Fagan led the Jags on Saturday by going 6-for-7 with two home runs, four runs scored and five RBI. Her slugging percentage was 1.714 and had a on-base percentage of .857. Plus the freshman extended her team-leading RBI stat to 43 and now takes the team lead in home runs.
Brittany Fowler extended her on-base streak to 23 consecutive games to tie her career high for this mark. She went 4-for-5 with two RBI and four runs scored.
Hannah Campbell and Farish Beard both earned their 18th win of the season on Saturday. Hannah struck out four with only three hits, no walks and one earned run. Beard pitched three shutout innings in the second game while striking out five with only one hit and a walk.
On Sunday, the Jags blanked the Warhawks in a run-rule shorted finale to the weekend series by a score of 8-0. This was the first time in school history that the Jags swept a weekend series all by mercy-rule wins.
The lady Jags scored four runs in the top of the first inning with three consecutive singles by Fowler, Blair Johnson and Fagan. Fowler would score on Fagan’s base hit while the other two baserunners would score on a wild pitch and throwing error. Alex Breeden would get an RBI single to push Griffith across the plate.
Farish Beard pitched four innings to earn her 19th win of the season. She struck out seven and only allowed one hit and one walk. Hannah Campbell pitched two innings while striking out four with only one hit herself.
The Jags will round out the regular season when they play Troy three times this week. The first will be on Wednesday at Jaguar Field in Mobile then the final two games will be in Troy, Alabama in a doubleheader on Saturday on May 4th.
The Sun Belt Championship will begin on May 8th and will be hosted in Troy, Alabama. South Alabama continues to hold onto the top spot in the Sun Belt Conference with a 16-3 record ahead of Western Kentucky who has a 15-3 record in Sun Belt play. The Jags run their overall record to 40-7 on the season.
The Lady Jaguars are #17 in RPI, is ranked #20 in the USA Today coaches poll and is ranked #21 in ESPN.com poll.