Jags Baseball Defeat SLU 13-7 Behind 21 Hits
The South Alabama baseball team collected 21 hits in their 13-7 win over Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday evening in Hammond, Louisiana.
Six different Jaguars recorded multiple hits in the game with Jordan Patterson leading the way by going 4-for-4 with a double, a home run, four RBI and three runs scored. Robby Campbell went 4-for-6 with a new career high three RBI. Nolan Earley went 3-for-6 with four RBI and a run scored.
Matt Bell improved to 4-0 on the season while scattering six hits with two strikeouts and three walks. He allowed four unearned runs.
“We didn’t play solid defense behind Matt (Bell) tonight, but he was solid for us,” head coach Mark Calvi said after the game. “The thing I was most impressed with was the way our guys on the mound handled adversity. They just kept going and didn’t shy away from it. Sometimes those things happen and it did tonight, and we were fortunate to get a win.”
“Who would ever think you could make five errors and win a ballgame,” Calvi continued. “But it did tonight and we’re extremely fortunate that we won. We swung the bats well. Southeastern Louisiana is a good club and was undefeated at home coming into this game. We feel fortunate to win, but we’ll take it and move on.”
The 18-4 Jaguars will return to the field this weekend when they host Arkansas-Little Rock for a three-game weekend Sun Belt Conference series at Eddie Stanky Field.
USA Ranked 25th In Collegiate Baseball Weekly Poll
The South Alabama Jaguars baseball team is ranked 25th in this weeks Collegiate Baseball weekly top-30 poll released on Monday.
The Jags, the only Sun Belt team ranked in the poll this week, is 17-4 overall and 2-1 in Sun Belt play. This is the second time this season the team has been ranked in the top-30 poll released by Collegiate Baseball. It also marks the highest ranking in the poll since May 19, 2003 when the Jags reached #25 with a 39-15 record.
Last week the Jags went 3-1 in games played with a win over Alabama State and two out of three games in Troy as they opened the Sun Belt Conference schedule.
USA is ranked 12th in RPI according to Boydsworld.com and warrennolan.com as they travel to Southeastern Louisiana for a midweek game tonight as first pitch is scheduled for 6pm.
Below is the full top-30 poll as released by Collegiate Baseball on Monday.
1. North Carolina 18-1
2. Oregon State 19-1
3. Louisiana St. 18-2
4. Vanderbilt 19-2
5. South Carolina 17-3
6. Mississippi 20-2
7. Florida St. 18-1
8. Kentucky 16-3
9. UCLA 15-3
10. Georgia Tech 17-2
11. Virginia 17-2
12. Cal. St. Fullerton 16-3
13. Louisville 16-2
14. Mississippi St. 19-4
15. Oregon 15-6
16. N.C. State 16-5
17. Stanford 10-5
18. Oklahoma 17-4
19. Notre Dame 12-5
20. Cal Poly 15-4
21. Oklahoma St. 17-3
22. Arizona St. 12-4-1
23. U.C. Irvine 15-5
24. Texas A&M 14-7
25. South Alabama 17-4
26. Florida Gulf Coast 13-4
27. California 13-7
28. Arkansas 14-7
29. Campbell 16-3
30. Central Arkansas 17-3
South Alabama Sports Weekend Update
Baseball
The South Alabama Jaguars clinched the series against Troy with an 11-10 win on Friday night and a 7-5 win on Saturday but fell in the third game 7-8 as they were unable to complete the sweep in the conference opener.
USA scored seven unanswered runs in the final two innings which included a game-winning home run by Nick Zaharion to bring home the 11-10 win.
On Saturday, Dylan Stamey tossed 4 1/3 shutout innings in relief while Kyle Bartsch pitched a perfect ninth inning as the Jags won 7-5 and clinch the series against Troy on Saturday. Stamey allowed one hit and one walk while striking out a career-high five batters he faced to earn his fourth win of the season. Bartsch struck out one in the ninth to earn his sixth save of the season.
The Jags gave up five runs in the seventh inning as they fell to Troy 7-8 in the Sunday finale against the Trojans. The Jags held a 5-3 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning but an error allowed the Trojans to cut the lead to 5-4. Then a two-run double would put the Trojans in the lead 5-6. Then one batter later a three-run home run would put the Jags up 8-5.
USA would score two more runs in the game but could not manufacture another run to tie the game up. The Jags improve to 17-4 overall over the weekend and 2-1 in Sun Belt play while Troy falls to 12-6 overall and 1-2 in Sun Belt play.
USA will travel to Hammond, Louisiana to take on Southeastern Louisiana University on Tuesday with first pitch set for 6pm.
Softball
The South Alabama softball team won two out the three games over the weekend against #22 ranked Louisiana-Lafayette at Jaguar Field by scores of 7-3 and 8-4.
Senior Brittany Fowler batted .833 with three home runs, four runs scored and seven RBI on Saturday alone. She went 5-for-6 with a slugging percentage of 2.333.
Hannah Campbell and Farish Beard each pitched complete games on Saturday. Hannah struck out two to improve to 10-4 on the season while Beard struck out three and only allowed four hits to improve to 10-0 on the season.
The Jags fell 1-2 in the third game of the series on Sunday as Kaitlyn Griffith hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning to give the Jags an early lead. ULL took the lead for good with a two-run fourth inning.
Ragin’ Cajun pitcher Jordan Wallace struck out 15 Jaguars on the way to the win.
The Jags improve to 23-5 overall over the weekend and 2-1 in Sun Belt play. ULL comes out of the weekend with a 19-11 record overall and 2-4 in conference play.
The Lady Jaguars will host UAB on Wednesday with a first pitch set for 4pm at Jaguar Field. They previously defeated the Blazers 8-2 on March 2 in the Magic City Classic.
Men’s Basketball
The season isn’t quite over just yet. The Jags will participate in the postseason for the first time in five years after accepting a spot in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
The Jags will face the Green Wave of Tulane on Wednesday at Devlin Fieldhouse in Louisiana. Tipoff is set for 7pm.
This is the fifth year for the CIT and it’s 32 team tournament. Previous winners of the tournament are Old Dominion (2009), Missouri State (2010), Santa Clara (2011) and Mercer (2012).
Interim head coach Jeff Price’s tenure on the court with be extended at least one more game. The Jags are in the midst of a coaching search for the head coaching position, which Price is also vying for.
The Jags are 17-12 on the season and went 14-6 in Sun Belt play. Tulane has a 19-14 record overall, it’s best since the 1999-2000 season.
Women’s Basketball
In a bit of a surprise on Friday, Athletics Director Joel Erdmann announced that he had relieved head coach Rick Pietri of his duties after 13 seasons at the helm of the women’s program.
“We will begin a national search immediately and look far and wide and near and far for who the next coach will be,” Erdmann said to AL.com. “It will be very similar to other searches that we have conducted. Obviously, we are looking for someone who has ties to competitive success and winning, while at the same time maintaining their eye on excellence in the classroom and managing a tremendous overall program.”
Pietri, in a phone interview with AL.com was very grateful of former AD Joe Gottfried for hiring a boys’ high school coach in 2000 to take over a women’s program that had struggled for several years. He also indicated that only one of his seasons was not better than the 10 season’s previous to his.
Pietri leaves as the school’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 220-167 and 111-104 record against Sun Belt Conference opponents. He had three 20-win seasons, the most recent in the 2008-09 season.
Erdmann indicated that he hopes to have a new coach hired as soon as possible. Possibly as soon as April.
The Lady Jags went 17-13 overall this season and fell in the first round of the SBC Tournament.
Football
The Jaguar football team will pick up where they left off prior to Spring Break. They will hit the practice fields at the Jaguar Practice Facility around 6am on Tuesday morning.
Pietri Not Being Retained
Reports are surfacing that Women’s basketball coach Rick Pietri will not be retained by the University of South Alabama.
This news comes as a bit of a shock to fans of the program. We will have more as more information comes out.
Baseball And Softball Open Sun Belt Play This Weekend
South Alabama baseball and softball teams both open Sun Belt Conference play this weekend.
Baseball
The Jags open Sun Belt Play this weekend in Troy, Alabama against in-state rival Troy University. Jacob Noble (3-0) will make his fifth start of the season against the Trojans tonight and will face Tanner Hicks (3-0). First pitch is set for 6pm.
Saturday’s game is set for another 6pm first pitch with Brandon Boyle (0-1) taking the mound for the Jags as Troy is set to send Will Starling (3-1) as their starter.
Finally, the Sunday series finale is scheduled for a 1pm first pitch and is scheduled to see Jarron Cito (0-1) on the mound for the Jags and Shane McCain (3-0) taking the mound for the Trojans.
The Jags have won five of its last six games to enter the weekend with a 15-3 record this season. They also enter the weekend with a 36-28 all-time lead in the series against the Trojans while are only 10-17 all-time in Troy and is only 11-16 against the Trojans since they joined the Sun Belt in 2006.
All three games will be broadcast on 105.5 FM WNSP and can be accessed online at http://wnsp.com/
Softball
The Jaguar softball team opens Sun Belt Conference play against #22 ranked Louisiana-Lafayette at Jaguar Field. The Jags enter the weekend with a 21-4 record overall.
South Alabama will be tested as ULL comes into the weekend as the Sun Belt Conference leader in almost every offensive statistical category. But the Jags enter with an undefeated record at home as they have won all six home games so far this season.
Hannah Campbell tossed her first no-hitter against UC-Santa Barbara last week as the Jags won 3-0. She also is in the top-10 in the nation with an ERO of 0.90.
The last time these teams faced off it was in the Sun Belt Conference tournament where the Jags handed the five-time conference champs a 3-1 loss to win the Jaguars first Sun Belt Championship. ULL had swept the regular season series against the Jags.
South Alabama and ULL will play a doubleheader on Saturday and a series finale on Sunday. Live streaming will be available on USAJaguars.com All-Access section.
Go Jags!
Jags Defeat Alabama State 5-1 In Montgomery
South Alabama defeated Alabama State in Montgomery 5-1 on Tuesday in a one-hit performance by three Jaguar pitchers. Matt Bell improved to 3-0 on the season by only allowing one run on one hit while striking out four and walking two in a career high 5 2/3 innings of work.
James Traylor threw 2 1/3 hitless innings while striking out two in relief with Jordan Patterson pitching a perfect ninth inning and striking out one to earn the save.
The Jags got started early with a triple then scoring on a wild pitch to give the Jags a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, the Jags would load the bases on two walks and a hit batter. A Sacrifice fly would score a run then an RBI single would score another run to increase the lead to 3-0.
In the top of the fourth, the Jags would add another run on a passed ball to go up 4-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Bell would face the minimum through 3 1/3 innings before allowing a one-out single. The only run for the Hornets would be allowed to score when a runner was caught trying to steal second which allowed a runner to score during the rundown.
USA would score once more in the top of the eighth for the final score of 5-1.
The Jags improve their overall record to 15-3 on the season as they prepare to begin Sun Belt play this weekend at Troy.
USA Weekend Update
Baseball
The University of South Alabama baseball team rebounded from a 15-2 loss on Saturday to the University of North Florida to win the series with a 9-8 win on Sunday at Eddie Stanky Field.
Jaguar pitcher Dylan Stamey tied a career high with four strikeouts and allowed four hits and one earned run in 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn his third win of the season. Kyle Bartsch earned his fourth save of the year after pitching a perfect ninth inning while striking out one batter.
The Jags struck early by taking a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Then North Florida responded with five runs in the top of the third inning to take the 5-3 lead over the Jags. South Alabama reponded in the bottom half of the inning after Nolan Early hit a three-run homer to put the Jags back on top 6-5. USA would put two more runs over the plate in the inning to lead 8-5 at the end of the inning.
UNF would add two more runs in the top of the fifth inning to get within one of the Jags 8-7. Jags would add another run in the bottom of the 6th and UNF would cut the lead to one run again in the top of the eighth, but would not be able score again after that.
The Jags improve to 14-3 on the season while UNF falls to 11-5.
The Jags will travel to Montgomery to take on Alabama State on Tuesday with first pitch set for 6pm. Then the Jags will travel to Troy to take on the Trojans in a weekend Sun Belt series.
Softball
South Alabama battles hard against #9 UCLA on Saturday, but fell short by losing 2-1. UCLA improved to 20-4 on the season.
The Lady Jags then turned around and split the final day of games in California. The Jags fell to Utah 2-1 in the early game on Sunday before rebounding for a 4-1 win over host Long Beach State in the late game.
Hannah Campbell’s record fell to 9-4 on the season but earned her team-leading third save of the season. Farish Beard improved her record to 9-0 on the season with nine strikeouts in six innings while only allowing three hits and one earned run against LBSU.
The jags will return to action when they open Sun Belt play at Jaguar Field on Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Men’s Basketball
South Alabama had the lead with 25 seconds left in the game against Western Kentucky, but a turnover allowed the Hilltoppers to take the lead and hold on for the 62-59 win.
The Jags had an opportunity with 9.2 seconds left in the game, but a three-point attempt by Barrington Stevens III missed but the Jags kept possession with 0.5 seconds left. A final desperate heave by Augustine Rubit hit the rim twice but would not fall for the Junior.
Rubit finished with a team-high 22 points and eight rebounds. Senior Javier Carter added 11 points, six rebounds and one block. Stevens, Wright and Ammons both added six points.
Sun Belt Tournament
Western Kentucky defeated #2 seed Arkansas State 58-56 on Sunday. Then #1 seed Middle Tennessee fell to #4 seed Florida International 61-57 to fall short of getting to the Sun Belt Championship game for the second season in a row.
The Conference Championship Game will tip off Monday evening at 6pm with #4 FIU squaring off against #6 Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers are looking for back-to-back Sun Belt Championships and NCAA Tournament berths.
USA Pefect On The Diamond Friday
Baseball
The Jaguars baseball team stayed undefeated at home this season as third baseman Bud Collura came through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Jags defeated North Florida 6-5 Friday night.
Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Jags were tied 5-5. Jeff DeBlieux doubled down the right field line with one out. Then Collura came up to bat and put the 0-2 pitch into left field to score DeBlieux to win.
The Jags improve to 13-2 on the season while UNF fell to 10-4. They will play again today with first pitch set for 2pm at Eddie Stanky Field and again on Sunday with a 1pm first pitch.
The game can be heard on WNSP with Pat Greenwood handling the play-by-play.
Softball
The Jaguar softball team swept the first day of Long Beach State Invitational to improve their overall record to 20-2 on the season.
Hannah Campbell pitched a no-hitter to defeat UC-Santa Barbara on Friday morning then pitched two innings of relief as the Jags were tied with Idaho State 1-1 and allowing the Jags to score the go-ahead run in the sixth inning.
The no-hitter by Campbell was the first of her career and the first for a Jaguar since 2009 when Beth Pilgrim lead the Jags over Saint Louis.
Hannah Campbell improves her record to 9-2 on the season with a 0.75 ERA in 65.2 innings pitched. This was her third shutout of the season.
The Jags will hit the diamond at 4pm against #9 UCLA.
Jags Baseball Down Southern Miss 6-5
South Alabama defeated regional foe Southern Miss 6-5 Wednesday night at Eddie Stanky Field. Left-hander James Traylor struck out a career high seven batters in 5 2/3 innings of relief to lead the Jags to the win.
Traylor entered in the bottom of the first inning in relief of starter Andrew Fonzi. Kyle Bartsch earned his third save of the season with a perfect ninth inning where he struck out two Golden Eagles batters.
South Alabama improved their record to 12-2 on the season while USM fell to 6-6.
The Golden Eagles took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning but the Jags responded in the bottom of the first with a leadoff single that was followed by consecutive walks and by the end of the inning would have the lead at 4-3.
The Jags would load the bag in the bottom of the second inning on a walk then a two-run single up the middle would give the Jags a 6-4 lead. USM would only manage one more run int he top of the fourth inning as the Jags held on the rest of the way for the win.
South Alabama will host North Florida for a weekend series at Eddie Stanky Field. Friday night’s game is scheduled for a 6:30pm first pitch. Saturday is a 2pm first pitch and the final game on Sunday is scheduled for a 1pm first pitch.
Jaguar Sports Weekend Update
Men’s Basketball
The Jags fell on the road to Western Kentucky on Thursday night after falling behind by as many as 14 points against the Hilltoppers. But the Jags surged late but just could not make up the deficit and fell 79-73 in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Rubit finished with 23 points and nine rebounds with four assists and three steals. Javier Carter got his second consecutive double-double with a season high 14 points and 10 rebounds. He also added six blocks and three steals against the Toppers.
The Jags rebounded in the season finale trip to Troy to face their in-state rival Trojans. The Jags capped off the season with a 53-49 win on Saturday night in the Jags first game in Troy’s brand new Trojan Arena.
South Alabama fell behind by as many as 16 points in the first half and trailed by nine points at halftime. But outscored the Trojans 34-21 in the second half to come away with the victory. But it took a key defensive stop late to preserve the Jaguar victory.
Javier Carter picked up his third consecutive double-double with 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Carter also added five blocked shots including one with :12 seconds left to preserve the Jaguars three point lead at the time.
Augustine Rubit also added to his season total of double-doubles with a 13-point, 10 rebound effort.
Antoine Allen scored nine of this 12 points in the second half for the Jags.
South Alabama finishes the regular season with a 17-11 record overall and a 14-6 record in Sun Belt play. Troy lost their fifth consecutive game of the season to fall to 11-20 overall and 6-14 in Sun Belt play.
Troy’s head coach Don Maestri continues to be suck on 499 career wins.
South Alabama, who secured the #3 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament, will face the winner of the #6 seed Western Kentucky and #11 seed UL-Monroe game at 8:30pm on Saturday night at the Convention Center Court in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
In the Jags same bracket, #7 FAU and #10 Troy will face on in the first round then the winner with face #2 seed Arkansas State at 9pm on Saturday night in the SUmmit Arena. The winner of that side of the bracket will face the winner of the Jaguars side of the braket at 9pm on Sunday in the Semifinal game.
Football
South Alabama held their second practice of the spring practice period on Saturday morning and their third on Sunday afternoon. With three new faces coaching on the defensive side of the ball, including first year defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer.
Sherrer, instead of installing a new playbook, is focusing on getting all of the players on the same page. They are working on communication and new signals and terminology.
“The goal is for the new staff to communicate what they want out of the players, and for the players to understand what they [the coaches] want,” head coach Joey Jones explained after practice. “We want the players to come out of the spring totally understanding what our defensive staff wants them to do. The interaction seems to be extremely good. Our players appear to have a great feel for what the coaches want. They like the new coaches and understand they know what they are talking about and they have a great relationship off the field. It’s been real good for us.”
Sherrer was hired before the start of the spring semester and NCAA rules allowed several meetings in the offseason, is helping to achieve Coach Jones’ goals for this spring.
“I was in the first team meeting when they got back from the winter break, so they knew who I was,” Sherrer said. “A lot of them came by with questions, and we were allowed a couple of hours per week in the offseason to meet with them so we were able to get in there and teach them a little bit. The toughest part was getting the staff acclimated to what we are going to do because we all came from different directions. But so far it has gone well. The players have adapted to it and are eager to learn.”
Sherrer is using veterans on the team to help get his message to the rest of the team. Bryson James, Clifton Crews, Enrique Williams, Romelle Jones, Darrius Morrow and Tyrell Pearson, all who started last season for the Jags, were acknowledged by Sherrer as having a lot of experience and leadership ability on the team.
Sherrer is building a strong foundation on which the rest of the defensive scheme will be built. It may be very simple right now, but his process will build upon that and gain complexity throughout the spring and fall camp.
“We want to have a good understanding of the defense and the scheme that we want to run,” Sherrer explained. “We want to evaluate the players that are out there and see who fits the scheme and make sure we’re doing the right things. The most important part is that we want to come away with the right fundamentals, defense striking with their hands, tackling the right way and pursuing the football.”
They will return to the practice field at 6am on Tuesday with another two hour practice scheduled for the team.
Women’s Basketball
The #7 seed South Alabama Lady’s Basketball team will open the Sun Belt Tournament on Friday with a 2pm game against #10 Troy in the Convention Center. The winner of that game will advance to play the #2 seed Arkansas-Little Rock at 2:30pm on Saturday at the Summit Arena.
On the other side of the same bracket at the Jags has #6 North Texas opening at 2:30pm against #11 UL-Lafayette. The winner will then advance to play #3 seed Western Kentucky on Saturday. The winner will then face the winner of the other side of the bracket in the semi-final game on Sunday.
Softball
After dropping only their second game of the season, to #1 ranked Alabama on Thursday, the Lady Jaguar softball team turned around and swept through the Magic City Classic Tournament in Birmingham Alabama this weekend. The Jags defeated Murray State twice, the first 1-0 on Friday then again on Saturday 8-6. They then defeated UAB 8-2 in their second game on Saturday. Then they capped off the weekend by defeating Samford 4-0 on Sunday for a 4-game sweep of the weekend.
Third baseman Haley Fagan took a 1-0 pitch and drove it over the center field wall for a grand-slam to lift the Jags over Samford on Sunday.
Both Julie Moss and Brittany Campbell were named to the All-Tournament Team with Farish Beard named Co-Most Valuable Pitcher and Brittany Fowler named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament.
The Jags will host Nicholls State on Wednesday. The Lady Jags defeated Nicholls 7-1 earlier this season in Louisiana.
The Lady Jags are 17-2 overall this season. Next weekend they will travel to Long Beach California for the Long Beach State Invitational where they will face UC-Santa Barbara, Idaho State, UCLA, Utah and the host Long Beach State.
Once they return from that tournament, they will have the week off before hosting Louisiana-Lafayette over the weekend to open their Sun Belt schedule.
Baseball
The Jaguar lost their first game of the season on the road in Charleston, South Carolina on Friday night to College of Charleston by a score of 12-2.
The Jags then rebounded in the second game to win it 3-0 but then fell 2-3 on Sunday to get only their second loss of the season.
The Jags are 10-2 on the season and will return to action against Nicholls State on Tuesday in Thibodaux, Louisiana with a 6:30pm first pitch. They then return home to host Southern Miss on wednesday for another 6:30pm first pitch.