Annual Red-Blue World Series Starts Today
The Jaguar Baseball team will begin their annual Red-Blue World Series on Thursday at Eddie Stanky Field.
The three-game series will begin at 3:30pm on Thursday, game two will be at 3:30pm on Friday with the finale starting at 11am on Saturday. Game three will be played regardless of the outcomes of the first two games.
Ben Taylor will start for the Red team in the series opener facing the left-handed Jared Gates of the Blue team. Locke St. John will start for the Red team in game two facing off against James Traylor for the Blue team. Then the finale will see Hunter Soleymani for the Red team and Dillon Buhrkuhl for the Blue team as the starters.
The Red-Blue World Series is traditionally the end of the fall practice at USA. Rosters for the Red-Blue World Series have not been released yet.
USA Baseball Opens Fall Practice
The Jaguar baseball team opened fall practice on Monday and followed that up with its first intrasquad of the year on Tuesday morning at Eddie Stanky Field.
The Jags are looking to replace 15 seniors and two juniors who were lost to the Major League Baseball Draft, from last season’s Sun Belt Conference Championship team and NCAA Regional participant.
Bud Collura walked and doubled while COle Gleason and Cole Jarman added a hit each for the Red team. Andrew Tindell got the only hit recorded for the Gray team. The Red team earned a 2-0 decision after scoring an unearned run in the first inning and another run three innings later.
Ben Taylor, Dylan Eyler, Sam Givens, Brock Stevens and Jordan Touro each tossed one shutout inning for the Red team. Kevin Hill, Locke St. John, Brandon Hallford and Kyle Rovig each pitched one shutout inning for the Gray squad as well.
The Jags will have intrasquad scrimmages every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through November 16 at Eddie Stanky Field. They will scrimmage at 2:30pm on Friday and will scrimmage at 11am on both Saturday and Sunday.
USA Baseball Recruiting Class Ranked 29th Nationally By Collegiate Baseball Newspaper
The South Alabama Jaguar baseball team’s recruiting class was ranked #29 nationally by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The rankings, released last week, selects the top 40 teams in the country for their recruiting efforts and the Jags is the only school from the Sun Belt Conference to earn a spot in the rankings.
Coach Calvi and his staff signed 10 student-athletes to National Letters-of-Intent in November as well as adding five additional signees for the upcoming 2014 season.
USA lost 15 seniors to graduation and two juniors to the Major League Baseball Draft. Last season the Jags were the Sun Belt Conference Champion and played in the NCAA Regionals.
The coaching staff had to replace players such as Jordan Patterson, Kyle Bartsch and Dylan Stamey. To do so they brought in a mixture of high school and junior college players so they can have some players with experience to go along with their returners and to help the freshmen to make the transition to Division I baseball.
South Alabama will open fall practice on Monday, October 7 at Eddie Stanky Field.
Here is the full top-40 list as ranked by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper:
1. Florida
2. Mississippi St.
3. Florida St.
4. Miami (Fla.)
5. Oklahoma St.
6. Texas
7. Cal. St. Fullerton
8. Stanford
9. Oregon
10. Louisiana St.
11. South Carolina
12. Mississippi
13. N.C. State
14. Tennessee
15. Texas A&M
16. UCLA
17. North Carolina
18. Arizona
19. Oklahoma
20. Michigan
21. Rice
22. Virginia
23. Vanderbilt
24. Oregon St.
25. Arizona St.
26. Nebraska
27. Texas Tech.
28. Texas Christian
29. South Alabama
30. California
31. U.C. Santa Barbara
32. Clemson
33. Arkansas
34. San Diego
Loyola Marymount
35. Georgia Tech.
36. Georgia
37. Louisville
38. East Carolina
39. Central Florida
40. Kent St.
USA Baseball Releases 2014 Schedule
The University of South Alabama baseball head coach Mark Calvi released their 2014 schedule on Thursday. The schedule includes six NCAA Regional and two College World Series participants from last season. They also include last year’s national runner up.
The Jags will open the season with a three game series against Tennessee Tech at Eddie Stanky Field on February 14-16. They will then host Alabama State on February 18 in a mid-week series. They then travel to New Orleans to face former conference foe New Orleans in a three game series on February 21-23.
They return back to Eddie Stanky Field to host Jacksonville State for a two game mid-week series on February 25 and 26. They then begin a five game road trip when they travel to Fayeteville, Arkansas to face the University of Arkansas for a three game series from February 28 – March 2 who finished runner-up at the NCAA Manhattan (Kansas) Regional last season. The Jags then face Jackson State on March 4 in Mississippi then they end the road trip with a game at Mississippi State on March 5 for a rematch of last year’s NCAA Starkville (Mississippi) Regional winner’s bracket game that the Bulldogs won on their way to a runner-up finish at the College World Series.
The Jags will then host a three game series against Southern Illinois University March 7-9, followed by a mid-week trip to Hattiesburg to face Southern Miss before returning home for a Conference opener against Troy on March 14-16.
Throughout the conference season the Jags will have games against LSU (March 19 in Baton Rouge), Nicholls State (March 25), Southeastern Louisiana (April 1, Hammond, Louisiana), Southern Miss (April 2), Nicholls State (April 9, Thibodaux, Louisiana), Southeastern Louisiana (April 15), Auburn (April 22, Auburn, Alabama), Alabama State (April 30, Montgomery, Alabama).
The Sun Belt Conference Championship will be held in Mobile at Eddie Stanky Field from May 21 through May 25.
“It’s a good schedule,” coach Calvi said. “With our league being as tough as it is, you want to get your guys ready for that type of competition. To be ready for the postseason and get to where we want to go, you have to get used to playing high-quality teams. It’s a great experience for our guys. They come to South Alabama for the tradition and the fact that we’ll play anybody on the road or at home.”
“As we continue to improve and get the program back to where it was, it’s a drawing card as well,” Calvi continued. “We’re excited about this schedule. We definitely have our hands full. There’s no doubt about it, good competition allows you to see what you have and don’t have. It’s a great measuring stick to play a tough schedule.”
The full schedule can be found here.
Go Jags!
Eddie Stanky Field Infield Renovations
Stanky Field | Photo: wheresrooster.com
Eddie Stanky Field is getting an upgrade. Athletics Director Joel Erdmann said that it was time to replace the infield surface.
He said that, as far as he knew, the infield surface that they are replacing is the original surface from when Eddie Stanky Field was build in the 1980’s.
While the grounds crew have done a great job taking care of it Erdmann said, over time it had normally started to have swells and had started to lose its shape. It also didn’t handle rain and water well.
With the Sun Belt Championship coming to Mobile next spring, it was time to make some improvements. They have stripped the playing surface which includes the infield clay, all the grass and have replaced the soil with more fertile and healthy soil with an appropriate mixture of sand. They have also reshaped the infield in order to be accurate with common dimensions.
Also, when the renovations are complete, there will be basepaths from home to first and third to home that did not previously exist. Erdmann said that they had a nice playing surface, but that the Jags should have a Major League-type surface. Besides the safety factors involved, a nice playing surface is important in baseball and recruits also notice things.
In 2004-05 the University had a huge renovation which included a new pressbox, new stands, a stadium club, concession stands, restrooms and other improvements. In 2011 a new outfield wall, renovated dugouts, bullpens, moving home plate and other improvements were made as well.
Erdmann, while in Omaha, Nebraska for the college world series, took lots of notes about the stadium and literally copied that at Eddie Stanky Field.
The infield renovation will cost “in the neighborhood of $40,000,” and is being paid by “external money” raised by the Jaguar Atheltic Club and other outside sources.
The Jags are coming off of a season where they went 43-20 overall, 23-8 at home and made it to the NCAA Regional in Starkville, Mississippi.
Four Jags Selected In MLB Draft
The University of South Alabama baseball program had four players selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft over the weekend.
On the second day of the draft the Colorado Rockies chose Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Jordan Patterson with the third pick of the fourth round, the 109th pick overall. Kyle Bartsch was chosen by the Kansas City Royals with the eighth pick of the seventh round, which was the 204th overall pick.
Dylan Stamey was chosen by the Colorado Rockies with the third pick of the 14th round, the 409th pick overall. Also Nolan Earley was selected in the 22nd round by the Chicago White Sox for the 663rd pick overall.
Patterson was named to the first-team all-conference team as a utility player this spring. He was sixth in the Sun Belt with a .352 batting average. He collected 82 hits, 25 doubles, 69 runs scored and 49 RBI. The junior from Mobile was walked 41 times and hit by a pitch 21 times. He also had a .485 on-base percentage to lead the conference and was tied for the conference lead in doubles while finishing second in runs.
Patterson also earned a 1.84 ERA on the mound with two saves and 17 strikeouts with only six walks in 14 2/3 innings pitched. Patterson is the highest Jaguar selection since Adam Lind was selected in the third round in 2004.
Bartsch, a Hurst, Texas native, had a 3-0 record with 12 saves and a 3.12 ERA in 22 appearances this past season, all in relief. He was voted to the Second-team All-SBC team as he struck out 35 batters in 26 innings of work. He only walked 11 and held opponents to only a .189 batting average.
Bartsch finished second in the conference in saves while tying the school record in the category that was originally set by former All-American Mike Nakamura in 1998. He is the first Jaguar in program history to earn 10 or more saves in back-to-back seasons. He leaves the program as the all-time leader with 22 saves in two seasons.
Stamey made 24 appearances in relief as he went 5-2 with a 2.17 ERA and four saves. He struck out 62 batters and walked only nine. He finished second on the team in strikeouts with only 37 1/3 innings of work. He held opponents to a .209 batting average in his junior season, his first with the Jaguars.
Earley, a senior last season from Anderson, Indiana, led the Jags with 59 RBI with a .323 batting average with 19 doubles and 50 runs scored. He finished second on the team with 76 base hits and had a .411 on-base percentage with 36 walks. He was fourth in the Sun Belt Conference in RBI and among the top 10 in doubles.
The Jags finished 43-20 overall and 20-10 in Sun Belt play on the season and advanced to the NCAA Regional for the first time since 2004.
Jags Prepare To Open Regional Play In Starkville At 2pm Friday
The University of South Alabama baseball team prepares to open play in the 2013 NCAA Starkville Regional today at 2pm. The Jags, a #2 seed, will open against #3 seed Mercer at Dudy Noble Field on the campus of Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi.
Senior Anthony Izzio (3-0) will get the start for the Jags against Mercer. He has three consecutive wins in his last three outings, one of them a start. He has only allowed two runs in the last 19 2/3 innings with 12 strikeouts and two walks.
Mercer (43-16) will start Brandon Barker (7-1) with a 2.35 ERA with 78 strikeouts and 26 walks in 84 1/3 innings pitched. He is also holding opponents to a .251 batting average against him.
All-time the Jags are 34-48 in NCAA Regionals with its 25th appearance this season, it’s first since 2006. The Jags also hold a 6-2 advantage over Mercer all-time with their last game a Jaguar win at Eddie Stanky Field to open the 2009 season. This will be their first time to face each other in postseason play.
South Alabama enters the Regionals ranked 27th in this week’s Collegiate Baseball poll. As they prepare to open play, they come into the game with a .301 batting average and a 4.21 ERA. While Jeff DeBlieux leads the nation with 10 triples while hitting .407 with four doubles, five triples, two home runs, 11 RBI during his current 14 game hitting streak.
Mercer enters the game with a team batting average of .301 and a 4.06 ERA. Chesny Young leads the team with a .394 batting average, 100 hits, three triples and an on-base percentage of .453. They are the regular season champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 20-7 conference record.
The Starkville Regional is probably one of, if not the toughest regional of the 16 regional sites in the nation.
Along with being broadcast on 105.5 FM WNSP in the Mobile area and online on thier website http://wnsp.com/ the game can be viewed through ESPN3.com.
USA Travels To Starkville For First NCAA Regional Tournament Since 2006
There wasn’t any doubt that the South Alabama baseball team was going to make the field of 64 teams for the NCAA Tournament, their first since 2006. But there was hope that the Jags would be hosting a Regional in Mobile. Unfortunately those hopes did not come to fruition on Sunday when the regional locations were announced.
However the Jags will be playing just up the road in Starkville, MS regional as a #2 seed. They will be joined by the host and #1 seed Mississippi State, #3 seed Mercer and #4 seed Central Arkansas.
The Jags ended the regular season as co-champions of the Sun Belt with in-state rival Troy University with a 42-18 record. They were eliminated from the Sun Belt Tournament short of their goal of reaching the championship game, but they will now get ready to face #3 Mercer of the Atlantic Sun Conference at 2pm on Friday. Top seeded MSU will face Central Arkansas at 7pm on Friday. They defeated the Bulldogs earlier in the season.
Single Game tickets are $15 for reserved and $10 for general admission and will be available on Friday, May 31 at noon. All-Tournament passes are $90 for reserved and $50 for general admission and will go on sale Wednesday, May 29 at 8am.
The Jags fell to Mississippi State earlier this season in a close game.
Jags Vs ULL Postponed Until 12:30 Today
South Alabama’s second round game against Louisiana-Lafayette was postponed last night due to inclement weather in the Lafayette area. The game prior between Troy and FAU was suspended in the top of the ninth inning as well.
The Jags and Ragin’ Cajuns have been rescheduled for 12:30pm on today.
Jags Defeat UALR In First Round Of SBC Tournament
South Alabama defeated 7th seeded UALR 10-2 on Wednesday to advance in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Anthony Izzio went a career-high eight innings while scattering eight hits and just two runs. He struck out three with only one walk for his third win of the season.
Brandon Boyle threw one shutout inning in relief.
A total of five Jaguars recorded multiple hits in the win. Jordan Patterson led the way by going 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Jeff DeBlieux, Nick Zaharion, Bud Collura and Robby Campbell were the others to record multiple hits.
Jags got on the board early by taking a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after Patterson and Zaharion both hit RBI singles. Patterson would score later in the inning on a fielder’s choice by Dustin Dalken. Later Dorsey would deliver a sac fly to right-center.
The #2 seeded Jaguars will face tournament host Louisiana-Lafayette at 7:30pm on Thursday in a winner’s bracket game. ULL defeated FIU on Wednesday evening 9-6 to advance.