Jags Travel To Lafayette For Final Regular Season Road Trip
The 29th ranked South Alabama Jaguar baseball team will look to extend their seven game winning streak this weekend as they travel to Louisiana-Lafayette for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series.
This marks the final regular-season road series of the year.
The series will get started Friday evening at 6pm with right-hander Kevin Hill (8-0) will make his 10th start of the season. He leads the conference in strikeouts (78) and opposing batting average (.199), is tied for the conference lead in wins (8) and ranks second in ERA (2.06). He has thrown complete games in the last three starts against conference opponents with 38 strikeouts, nine walks and 12 hits during that 27-inning span.
Game two on Saturday will also start at 6pm and will be streamed live on ESPN3. Austin Bembnowski (2-3) will make his ninth start of the season.
Game three on Sunday will start at 1pm with lefty Jared Gates (4-2) scheduled to make his 12th start of the season.
Meanwhile, Lafayette will start a trio of freshmen on the mound with lefty Gunner Legel (5-3) in the series opener, righty Evan Guillory (3-0) in game two and righty Wyatt Marks (5-1) in the finale.
Billingsley Name SBC Baseball Player of the Week
The Redshirt Sophomore is batting .344 with seven doubles, four triples, two home runs, 26 RBI, 40 runs scored and 23 stolen bases in 47 games this season. | Photo credit: John Adams usajaguars.com
On Tuesday the Sun Belt Conference office announced that Cole Billingsley was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week. Billingsley, a redshirt sophomore from Cropwell, AL., hit .450 with three doubles, five RBI, seven runs scored and three stolen bases in four games last week while helping the Jags to a three-game sweep of Georgia Southern.
He recorded multiple hits in each game and drove in at least one run in three of the four contests including a multi-RBI performance in the final two games against GSU.
Billingsley is the first Jaguar to earn the conference Player of the Week honor since Adam Ballew on March 3 of this season.
For the season, he is batting .344 with seven doubles, four triples, two home runs, 26 RBI, 40 runs scored and 23 stolen bases in 47 games this season. He also had a .443 on-base percentage on the season.
Jaguar Baseball Enters Collegiate Baseball Poll
After sweeping the then league leader Georgia State and following that up with a sweep against the then #2 team in the league on the road in Georgia Southern and moving their way into the top spot in the conference, the Jaguar baseball team has finally entered the Collegiate Baseball NCAA Division I poll.
On Monday, when the poll was released, the Jaguars had finally appeared at #29.
USA (32-17, 17-7 SBC) carries a seven-game conference winning streak into the week and have won nine of their last 10 conference games. This is the first time they have been ranked nationally since the final rankings in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll of 2013 where they were in 30th place.
The Jags will travel to Louisiana-Lafayette (30-17, 14-9 SBC) for a three-game conference series against the third place team in the conference. In addition to leading the conference entering the week, they also lead the conference in batting average (.285), ERA (3.33) and fielding percentage (.975).
Jag Baseball And Softball Win Weekend Sun Belt Series
Both Jaguars Baseball and Softball teams had successful weekends on the diamond. Below are highlights of the weekend.
Softball
The #22 ranked Jaguar softball team took two of three games from Troy over the weekend to clinch their final series of the regular season.
In game one, the Trojans scored five unanswered runs, including a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, to win 6-3.
USA took a two run lead in the top of the second inning. Chloe Rathburn scored when senior Blair Johnson doubled to right center and a subsequent throwing error in a throwout attempt at the plate. Johnson would later score when freshman Haleigh Lowe’s infield single.
The Trojans halved the Jaguar lead when she scored on Farish Beard’s wild pitch.
USA added another run to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth on a squeeze play off the bat of senior first baseman Amanda Herron which scored senior Gwen Jones, who pinch ran for Rathburn.
However, four runs in the bottom half of the fourth would put Troy ahead.
Beard suffered the loss to fall to 9-4 on the season after giving up five run, all earned, on seven hits with a walk in 3 2/3 innings pitched. Freshman righty Devin Brown threw 2 1/3 innings of relief allowing one run on one hit with a walk and five strikeouts.
Johnson led the Jaguars at the plate by going 2-of-3 with one run scored. Rathburn went 1-of-2 with a run scored as well.
In game two, the Jaguars stranded three base runners in the first two innings then went down in order in the next three innings. But Troy did not fare any better as only one player reached base in their first five innings facing the Jags pitching.
In the bottom of the sixth, Troy’s Heather Johnson led off the inning with a single through the left side, which was followed by Kayler reaching base on a bunt single, but Johnson was thrown out trying to stretch and make it to third base. Benton followed with a single up the middle but she would be thrown out at the plate by Amanda Minahan later in the innign on Becca hartley’s base hit to center field. McGill forced a groundout for the final out of the innings the Jags got out of the inning unscathed.
Rathburn led off the top of the seventh with a double off the left field wall. Kaitlyn Griffith then smashed the go-ahead two-run homer, her 12th of the season and a new South Alabama season record.
McGill retired the Trojans in order to finish off the game.
In the third game on Sunday, Troy would take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after Kate Benton led off the game with an infield single. She could eventually score on a play in which Emily Messer overthrew Amanda Herron at first allowing the ball to go down the right field line.
USA would tie the game in the top of the second after Griffith drew a leadoff walk and scored on Herron’s double to right field.
The Jags added two more runs in the top of the fourth after Herron drew a one-out walk, Gwen Jones would come in to pinch run for her. Minahan followed with a single and advanced to second base on a throw to home plate to put to Jags in scoring position. Lowe would ground out to second to score Jones. Messer would follow with an infield base hit to score Minahan putting USA up 3-1.
McGill would work herself way out of two separate situations in the next two innings.
USA would add an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning after Blair Johnson reached on a leadoff due to a Trojan fielding error. She would score on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Minahan for a 4-1 lead, which would be the final score as well.
Freshman righty Kalen McGill (16-2) recorded her second complete-game win of the series by only allowing one unearned run while scattering nine hits and striking out five with only one walk.
Stephanie Pilkington went 2-for-4 in the game. Herron went 2-for-3 with an RBI, Messer went 1-for-3 with an RBI and Minahan also went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
USA ends the regular season with a 35-10 record overall and a 16-4 record in Sun Belt Conference play.
South Alabama will be the #2 seed in the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Tournament which takes place May 6-9 in San Marcos, Texas.
Baseball
South Alabama swept their second-consecutive Sun Belt Conference series with their weekend sweep of Georgia Southern.
Jag righty Kevin Hill struck out 12 batters in his second consecutive complete game as USA won 7-1 in the series opener. Hill only allowed one run on five hits with two walks to go along with his 12 strikeouts for his eighth consecutive win.
In game two the Jags entered the sixth inning facing a three-run deficit but after 14 batters went to the plate and eight runs pushed across the plate, the Jags would take the lead and not relinquish it the rest of the game.
Jag lefty Joey Jones (1-0) walked two in 2/3 of an inning to earn his first career win at USA.
In game three, the Jags scored multiple runs in four different innings for an 11-4 win to complete the sweep. The Jags (32-17, 17-7 SBC) had 13 hits in the game.
With the weekend sweep, USA moves into first place in the conference ahead of Georgia State (27-20, 14-8 SBC), UL-Lafayette (30-17, 14-9 SBC) and Georgia Southern (27-21, 16-11 SBC).
Softball And Baseball Both On Road For SBC Series
Softball
The #22 ranked South Alabama Softball team will travel to Troy this weekend for their final series of the 2015 regular season. The Jags and the Troy Trojans will play a doubleheader on Saturday with the first game starting at 1pm then the finale on Sunday beginning at 1pm as well.
Next up for the Jaguars will be the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Tournament which begins on Wednesday, May 6 and will conclude on Saturday, May 9 in San Marcos, Texas.
The Jaguars (33-9, 14-3 SBC) currently sit in second place in the conference behind UL-Lafayette (34-8, 17-3 SBC) who are in the midst of a three game skid. But in third place is Troy (31-20, 13-7 SBC) who have won their last two game.
Baseball
The Jaguar baseball team will travel to Georgia Southern, who are second place in the conference, after sweeping the top team in the conference at home last weekend in Georgia State and have won their last four SBC games and six of the last seven conference games.
USA (29-17, 14-7 SBC) is in third place in the conference and looking to move up the standings. They are coming off of a loss in a 17 inning game against Southern Miss on Wednesday.
The series will begin this afternoon at 5pm, Saturday’s game will begin at 1pm and the series finale is scheduled for noon on Sunday. All times are Central time. Additionally all three games will be streamed live on ESPN3 as well as being broadcast on WNTM 710 AM in Mobile and on the iHeartRadio app.
National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association National Pitcher of the Week Kevin Hill will start the series opener. He pitched a one-hit shutout complete game in last weeks series opener. Georgia Southern will counter with lefty Evan Challenger (5-0) who has a 1.06 ERA with 50 strikeouts, 14 walks in 59 1/3 innings pitched.
USA will also start righty Austin Bembnowski (2-3) in game two and lefty Jared Gates (4-2) on Sunday.
Jags Fall To Southern Miss 7-6 in 17 Innings
The Jaguars and the Golden Eagles took 17 innings to decide a winner, unfortunately it was Austin Roussel’s walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 17th inning that gave Southern Miss the 7-6 win over USA.
USM’s Breck Kline got on base one a one-out walk from Jaguar pitcher Justin Flores. He would advance to third base on a single to center field by Tim Lynch. Then Roussel chopped a 1-2 pitch towards first base and was just out of Flores’ reach to allow Kline to score the game-winning run.
Trailing 5-4 in the top of the eighth inning, the Jaguars went to work. Consecutive singles by Cole Gleason and Adam Ballew led off the inning. A sacrifice bunt from Jared Barnes advanced both runners into scoring position with one out. Then Garrett DeGallier would reach base on a fielder’s choice to second, which the USM second baseman threw wide of home plate which allowed both Gleason and Ballew to score giving USA a 6-5 lead.
But that lead was short lived as the Golden Eagles would tie it up and eventually send it to extra innings in the bottom half of the inning.
Bud Collura went 3-for-6 with a triple, two RBI, a run scored and a stolen base to lead USA at the plate.
South Alabama will travel to Stateboro, GA for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series with Georgia Southern this weekend.
Hill Earns Three Weekly Awards For His Performance Against Georgia State
Kevin Hill struck out a career-high 15 batters as he carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning in a complete game shutout of league leading Georgia State Friday night. His 15 strikeouts were the most since P.J. Walters’ 15 in 2006. | Photo Credit: John Adams usajaguars.com
Right-hander Kevin Hill has earned three weekly awards this week after he carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning in a one-hit shutout with a career-high 15 strikeouts against league leader Georgia State.
The game was his seventh consecutive win of the season and his second complete game of the year. He also retired 16 consectutive Panther batters from the third to the eighth inning in the game.
His 15 strikeouts were the most by a Jaguar pitcher since P.J. Walters’ 15 against Georgia Southern in 2006.
On Monday, he was named the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Hill is the first Jaguar to earn this distinction since Jake Overstreet did in March 2010.
On Tuesday, Hill earned two more weekly awards after he was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week.
In eight starts this season Hill has a 7-0 record with a 2.22 ERA, 66 strikeouts, 21 walks, two complete games and one shutout in 56 2/3 innings pitched. He leads the conference in strikeouts entering the week as well.
Pete Tolbert Night of Champions Honors Jaguar Student-Athletes
Photo credit Press-Register/Victor Calhoun
South Alabama honored student-athletes Monday at the sixth annual Pete Tolbert Night of Champions at the Mitchell Center. The event recognizes the achievements, both in competition and academically, of the nearly 400 individuals who comprise the University of South Alabama athletics program.
Kaitlyn Griffith (Softball from Centre, AL) and Daniel Leitner (Men’s Tennis from Neiderfischbach, Germany) were named the Jaguar Female and Male Student-Athlete of the Year respectively, honoring the most outstanding Jaguars based on scholarship, athletic ability and citizenship.
Griffith, a senior shortstop for the softball team is hitting .296 with a team-high 11 home runs, with 38 RBI, 25 runs scored and helping the team to a 33-9 record thus far and a top-25 national ranking throughout the 2015 season. She is a three-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America Scholar Athlete and is set to receiver her degree in May in exercise science. She has a 3.82 cumulative GPA.
Leitner, a senior, is the reigning two-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in men’s tennis. He earned the award this spring after amassing a 28-5 overall record in singles play and a 22-6 record in doubles play. He was named to the first-team All-SBC in both singles and doubles, and as the highest-rated individual in the conference, will earn a berth to the NCAA Singles Championships in May. He will graduate with a 3.89 GPA in exercise science in May.
A pair of Griffith’s teammates on the Softball team also earned awards.
Farish Beard was chosen at the school’s NCAA Woman of the Year Nominee with Blair Johnson earning the Jimmy Taylor Scholarship.
Beard, who currently has a 3.39 GPA, was selected as the nominee for that goes to a varsity letterwinner completing her intercollegiate eligibility by the end of spring sports season, who has excelled in academics, athletics, service and leadership with a minimum of a cumulative 2.5 GPA. She is also a finalist for both the Senior CLASS and 2014 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year awards. This season she is 9-3 with a 2.37 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 71 innings.
Johnson earned the award going to a student-athlete who holds a minimum of a 2.5 GPA, has completed their NCAA eligibility and with the assistance of the fund will graduate from USA within two consecutive semesters. She has earned All-SBC honors twice during her career and this year she is batting .254 with 12 extra-base hits, 25 RBI, and 14 walks to only eight strikeouts.
Sophie Haywood from Hull, England, earned the Auralia Crowell Freshman Scholar Athlete Awards given to the most outstanding freshman based on excellence in academics and athletics. She was named First-Team All-Conference after posting 19 points on seven goals and five assists in helping the Jaguar soccer team tow in the conference title and advance to the NCAA Tournament. She has a 4.0 GPA as an exercise science major.
Adam Ballew of the baseball team was awarded the Denny-Gottfried Scholarship Award that is presented to the student-athlete who has exhausted their eligibilty, maintained an outstanding GPA and achieved athletic accomplishment. In his final season at USA, he has helped the Jaguar baseball team to a 29-16 record thus far while batting .275 with five extra-base hits, 26 RBI and eight stolen bases. He is an exercise science major with a 3.38 GPA.
Derek Westbrook from Diamondhead, MS, received a pair of awards. He arned the Shirley Holt Scholarship Award as well as the Male Jaguar Athletic Fund Award. The former is given to a student-athlete who exemplifies outstanding “Team Spirit” and who has shown great character and concern for his or her fellow student-athletes. The latter recognizes overall support of Jaguar Athletics. Both awards exemplifies Derek’s contributions to South Alabama Athletics and also marks the second-consecutive year that he has garnered the JAG Award honors.
Caroline Beebe earned the Female Jaguar Athletic Fund Award. Which marks the second consecutive year that both she has earned the JAF Award as well.
Hunter Colemani was awarded the Tom and Barbara Corcoran Scholar-Athlete Endowed Scholarship Award which is given to a USA Junior who most excels in sports while maintaining at least a 3.0 GPA. The right handed pitcher has a 4.0 GPA in biomedical sciences in the classroom while on the diamond he has a 1-0 record with a 0.59 ERA with 14 strikeouts and 15.1 innings of work.
Jimmie Gipson III was awarded the Wilson Durgin Memorial Scholarship Award which goes to a minority student-athlete who has excelled in both the classroom and competition. Nikki Gittens was awarded the Female Perseverance Award after she suffered a stress fracture in her tibia that forced her to redshirt in 2013, she then returned and ranked third on the volleyball team with 243 kills and led the team with a .250 attack percentage and 83 total blocks while helping the Jags qualify for the SBC tournament despite tendinitis in her knee and hitting shoulder.
Ucambre Williams earned the Male Perseverance Award after undergoing three separate surgical procedures and requiring over six months of rehabilitation. After surgery on his right knee in September he returned in just 15 days and would go on to start 11 consecutive games while posting a team-best 90 percent overall grade and being named to the second-team All-SBC and helped the Jaguars play in its first-ever postseason bowl game.
Brandon Bridge was awarded the Mayer Mitchell Quarterback Endowment Fund Award as the Jaguars starter last fall. Matt Bolger earned the Clifton Inge Endowed Baseball Award. David Knapp earned the Forrest W. and Beverly B. Crowder Endwoed Scholarship for baseball. Mark Watts earned the McKinney Family Endowed Scholarship Fund for Track and Field. Emily Newton earned the George Smith Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund for Track and Field as well.
Assistant Athletic Director for Ticket Operations Greg Keel was selected for the Matt Smith Award which goes to a member of the athletics staff who consistenly goes the extra mile, has the spirit of commitment, a strong work ethic, and a deep sense of pride in their job. The award is named in memory of former USA Sports Information Director Matt Smith who passed away in December of 2004.
Each sport program also presented awards at the event. The winners of those honors were:
- Eddie Stanky Award (baseball), Bolger
- Goldie Ungar Heart of Gold Award (men’s basketball), Dionte Ferguson
- Jaguar Women’s Basketball NCAA Award (women’s basketball), Breanna Hall
- Female Distance Award (women’s cross country), Nicole Durham
- Male Distance Award (men’s cross country), Christoph Graf
- Jim Yance Heart of a Jaguar Award (football), Jesse Kelley
- Heath Slocum Award (men’s golf), Tyler Klava
- Beth Barry Award (women’s golf), Ingrid Hagen
- Lindsay Rogers Award (soccer), Alyssa Mayer
- Extra Mile Award (softball), Stephanie Pilkington
- Lubel Family Award (men’s tennis), Leitner
- Marilyn Lubel Award (women’s tennis), Laura Matuskova
- Most Outstanding Women’s Track & Field Student-Athlete Award (women’s track and field), Kaitlyn Beans
- Most Outstanding Men’s Track & Field Student-Athlete Award (men’s track and field), Jan-Louw Kotze
- Jaguar Volleyball Award (volleyball), Gittens
Prior to the naming of the Jaguar Student-Athletes of the Year, 46 current and former student-athletes who will graduate at the conclusion of the semester received gifts from the department.
Congratulations to all the award winners as well as all of the student-athletes who will earn their degrees. Thank you for representing the University in each of your respective sports with honor and character. Once a Jaguar, always a Jaguar.
Jags Weekend Review
Jags baseball complete a weekend sweep of first-place Georgia State while softball team split a pair of games with North Dakota State. Here’s the rundown.
Softball
The #21 ranked Jaguar softball team split a pair of games against North Dakota State over the weekend after the first of a scheduled doubleheader on Saturday was cancelled due to weather conditions.
On Friday night the Jags dropped a 7-3 decision to the Bison at Jaguar Field. In the opening inning both teams traded a pair of runs. Then the Bison pushed across a run in the top of the third inning to take a 3-2 lead over the Jaguars.
Then in the top of the fifth inning Amanda Minahan tied the game with her fifth home run of the season. But in the top sixth inning the Bison would score four runs to take control of the game.
Farish Beard suffered the loss to fall to 8-3 on the season after allowing seven runs (all earned) on six hits in five innings with eight strikeouts. Kalen McGill threw two innings of scoreless relief and only allowed on hit.
Emily Messer and Stephanie Pilkington each went 2-for-4 with Messer scoring the first run of the game and Pilkington had an RBI.
Chloe Rathburn was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
The lone game on Saturday was weather-delayed and cancelled one of the two that was scheduled for the day.
The Bison took the lead in the top of the first inning when they pushed three runs across. The Jags answered in the bottom half of the inning with two runs when Rathburn and Amanda Herron each drew bases-loaded walks.
In the bottom of the second inning the Jags tied the game at 3-each after Messer got on base with a one-out infield single followed by Kaitlyn Griffith’s RBI single through the left side of the infield.
The Bison regained the lead on a solo homer in the top of the third inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Griffith drew a one-out walk followed by Chloe Rathburn’s homer to put the Jags on top 5-4. Later in the inning Blair Johnson picked up an RBI by driving Minahan in with a single to right field to extend their lead to 6-4.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Bison tied the game up again with a two-run homer. The Jags went down in order in the bottom of the sevening sending the game to extra innings.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Jags loaded the bases when the Bison intentionally walked Messer. Haleigh Foster came in to pinch hit and ended up walking in the game-winnign run for the Jaguars.
Messer finished the game going 3-for-4 with two RBI. Johnson went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Griffith finsihed 1-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI.
Farish Beard (9-3) got the win in 5 2/3 innings of relief and allowed a pair of runs (both earned) on three hits with four strikeouts and a walk.
The Jags (33-9) will travel to Troy for the final regular season Sun Belt Conference series of the season ahead of the Sun Belt Conference Championships to be held in San Marcos, TX.
Baseball
The Jaguar baseball team completed a three-game weekend sweep of Conference leading Georgia state.
Read more
Jag Sports Weekend Preview
Both the Baseball and #21 ranked Softball team will host weekend series on campus this weekend. Read below for the scoop on their opponents.
Softball
After the Jaguar softball team had their 11-game win streak snapped by Southern Miss on Wednesday, they will return to Jaguar Field with the intention of starting a new streak when they host North Dakota State this weekend.
The Jags (32-8) was shut out for the first time since their March 24 loss to #1 LSU. The Eagles scored the only run of the game in the fourth inning on an RBI single to right field.
The loss also snapped Kalen McGill’s consecutive-win streak to give her only her second loss of the season for a 14-2 record. She allowed one earned run on five hits while striking out one.
Farish Beard allowed one walk in one shutout inning of relief.
The only Jaguar hits of the night were Chloe Rathburn’s double and Amanda Herron’s single. Though Emily Messer reached base on each of the Eagle’s three errors on the night.
But now they turn their focus to North Dakota State in their final home-series of the regular season. Though it’s a non-conference series, North Dakota State gives the Jaguars a great opportunity against team with an RPI of 51 after losing to the Golden Eagles who had an RPI of 221.
NDSU enters the game with a 36-8 record after splitting a doubleheader at #10 Minnesota on Wednesday. They hold a 2-2 record on the season against ranked opponents after a 6-5 win over #17 Washington back in February and a run-rule loss to #11 Tennessee on March 7.
They will open the series Friday night at 6pm and conclude the series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 2pm.
Baseball
The Jags baseball team split a pair of games against Jacksonville State on the road to put their record at 26-16 overall and 11-7 in conference play.
This weekend they host Georgia State for a three-game series beginning at 6:30pm on Friday night at Eddie Stanky Field.
The Panthers (26-15, 13-3 SBC) enters the game as the conference leader with the best winning percentage in the conference.
Kevin Hill (6-0) will start the first game as he ranks second in the conference with six win, ranks fifth in ERA (2.45) and seventh in strikeouts (51) and opposing batting average (.231).
Austin Bembnowski (2-3) will start on Saturday and Jared Gates (3-2) will start the finale on Sunday.