South Alabama Sports Weekend Roundup
Men’s Basketball
The Men’s team defeated UT-Arlington behind the leadership of the teams two seniors, Augustine Rubit and Antoine Allen, who combined to score 42 points to end their Jaguar careers on a high note with a 78-73 win.
Rubit earned his 54th career double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds, with 14 points and 10 reboudns coming in the second half alone. Allen scored 24 points with 16 of them coming in the first half. Allen nailed five three-pointers and a season-high seven rebounds.
Rubit’s Jaguar historic career ends with him in 2nd place in points, 5th place in field goals made, 3rd place in field goals attempted, 1st in free throws made and attempted, 1st in rebounds, 3rd in rebounding average, 3rd in blocks, 1st in double-doubles, and tied for 2nd in games played. He recoreded a double-double in his first game as a Jaguar and the final game as a Jaguar.
“Well first and foremost, congratulations to our two seniors, Antoine Allen and Augustine Rubit,” head coach Matthew Graves said. “Even though we didn’t play in the conference tournament, they hung tough and we finished the season with two wins. What a way to go out.”
“I think this is arguably Antoine’s best game that he has played all season,” Graves noted. “I was really proud of his effort. I thought he played more within himself tonight than he did the entire season so that’s a really big positive.”
Ken Williams and Mychal Ammons both scored 13 points each with Ammons recorded three blocks. Barrington Stevens III had five assits with only one turnover. The Jags held the Sun Belt’s leading scorer to 11 points on 2-of-17 shooting and 1-of-11 from 3-point range. He entered the game averaging 20.5 points per game.
Women’s basketball
The South Alabama women’s basketball team finished out the season with a 60-57 win over UT-Arlington as Meghan Dunn scored a career-high 23 points, including four pivotal free throws in overtime to give USA the win.
The team said farewell to seniors: Dunn, Jennifer Johnson, Olivia Mohler and Ronneka Robertson.
Softball
The Jaguar softball team won four of their five games over the weekend at the Parents’ Weekend Invitational in Boca Raton, Florida. The Jags opened the weekend with a 1-0 win over Marshall. Then came back in the nightcap and lost 1-0 to Virginia Tech.
Against Marshall Farish Beard was on top of her game and retired 19 consecutive batters to give the Jaguars a chance to win the game.
In the bottom of the sixth inning Amanda Minahan led off the inning with a single, then Gwen Jones replaced her to pinch run. Then Junior shortstop Kaitlyn Griffith delivered a two-out RBI triple to being Jones home and provide the winning margin for USA.
Against Virginia Tech the Jaguars leadoff hitter got on base in five of the seven innings but none of them could get home. The Jags left seven runners on base in the game with Stephanie Pilkington being the only Jaguar to record a hit by going 2-for-3. Emily Messer, Amanda Minahan and Taylor Rodgers all drew walks.
Hannah Campbell retired 18 consecutive batters to start the the game. In the bottom of the seventh Hokie Kylie McGOldrick led off the inning with a double to the left center gap. Katey Smith would single to center field to drive McGoldrick in for the winning run.
USA had an opportunity in the second inning after Griffith and Minahan were hit by pitches in back-to-back at-bats, then Rodgers would draw a walk but back-to-back strikeouts would end the Jaguars’ threat.
Campbell finished with five strikeouts and only one walk.
On Saturday they defeated Illinois 5-3 in an afternoon game then turned around and defeated host Florida Atlantic 7-1 in the nightcap.
The Illini jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first, then doubled it with a leadoff solo homerun in the second inning. But the Jags would respond in the bottom of the second when Chloe Rathburn delivered her own solo leadoff homer to cut the lead to 2-1.
Down 3-1 in the top of the third, Amanda Minahan got the first of her three RBI ont he day with a single that scored Rodgers. Pilkington then scored on a fielders choice to tie the game at 3-3.
Illinois threatened in the top of the fifth after back-to-back hits, but Campbell retired consecutive batters to end the threat.
In the bottom of the sixth with Kaitlyn Griffith on base after being hit by a pitch, Alex Breeden belted her fourth homer of the season for the winning margin, 5-3.
On Sunday they defeated Illinois again 5-2 in eight innings.
Baseball
The Jaguars sweeped the weekend series from Southern Illinois to improve to 8-7 on the season.
On Friday night, second baseman Matt Bolger delivered a walk-off RBI in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Jags the first game 4-3.
In game two on Saturday, Locke St. John struck out a career-high five batters in eight innings to lead the Jags to a 4-1 win to clinch the series. He only allowed one run and five hits for the game.
St. John threw eight consecutive scoreless innings before surrendering a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning. James Traylor pitched one scoreless inning to earn his first save of the season. He walked two and struck out one in the one inning of relief.
Not content on just clinching the series, the Jags returned on Sunday to finish off SIU, but it would go into an extra inning to do so.
Hayden Jones delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th for the Jaguars to secure the 5-4 win and the sweep.
Jaguar Davis Knapp got on base by being hit by a pitch. He would then move to third on a one-out single to left-center field by Bud Collura. Then Jones would fly a 0-1 pitch to left field allowing Knapp to tag up and score the winning run.
SIU fell to 8-6 on the season while the Jags got above .500 at 8-7.
USA Softball Moves Up One Spot In Poll; Holds Steady In Other
The South Alabama Softball team made a slight move in one poll while holding steady in the other. The Jags are 15-2 on the season and coming off a 4-1 record over the weekend at the Gulf Coast Classic where their only loss was a narrow one #12 Baylor.
The team remained at #14 in the USA Today/NFCA top 25 poll while they moved up one stop in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 to #15.
The Jaguars are the only other school in the state ranked in the top 25. Alabama is ranked #11, Auburn narrowly misses at 26 and UAB is 33rd.
The only other Sun Belt Conference school to make the poll is Louisiana-Lafayette, the preseason choice to win the conference title, who are ranked 23rd.
The team travels to Boca Raton, Florida for the Parents’ Weekend Tournament at Florida Atlantic University this weekend.
USA’s Farish Beard Named Pitcher Of The Week Again
Junior Farish Beard struck out 36 in her 18 innings pitched during the Gulf Coast Invitational to earn lead the Jaguars to a 4-1 record. | Photo usajaguars.com
On Monday the Sun Belt Conference office named South Alabama’s Farish Beard the Conference Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season.
Beard (9-1) struck out a career-high 15 batters in one game, the second-most in a single game for a Jaguar, and it came in her second career no-hitter against UT-San Antonio. Beard was 3-0 in her three starts over the weekend with a total of 36 strikeouts in 18 innings, for an average of two strikeouts per inning, and only allowing a pair of hits and no earned runs.
After her performance over the weekend her ERA fell to a conference leading 0.15 as she held opponents to a 0.34 batting average with complete game shutouts against Ohio and UTSA. She also leads the conference in opposing batting average of 0.83, wins, fewest runs allowed with 4 and fewest earned runs allowed with 1.
Beard previously was given the same honor on February 10 for her performance in the Mardi Gras Invitational. Through four weeks of voting a Jaguar has earned a weekly award three of those weeks as Blair Johnson earned Player of the Week last week.
USA travels to Boca Raton, Florida for the Parents’ Weekend Invitational this weekend, hosted by former Sun Belt Conference member Florida Atlantic. The Jags will face Marshall University, Virginia Tech, Illinois, FAU, and Illinois again.
USA Softball Finishes Gulf Coast Classic With Win
The #14 ranked South Alabama Jaguar softball team split their two games on Saturday in the Gulf Coast Classic in Gulfport, Mississippi.
In the early game, the Jags defeated UT-San Antonio 3-0 as Farish Beard threw her second career no-hitter and a career-high 15 strikeouts.
USA outhit UTSA 4-0 and scored all of their runs int he fourth inning.
Freshmen Taylor Rodgers and Amanda Minahan combined to drive in the three Jaguar runs in the win. Rodgers delivered a two-RBI single. Minahan hit a solo home run, the first of her career to account for the third run against the Roadrunners.
In the nightcap, the Jags fell to #12 Baylor 1-0 as they could only manage two hits to the Bears nine and the first shutout of the Jaguars in their last 58 games which dates all the way back to their 4-0 loss to #1 Alabama on February 28, 2012.
Hannah Campbell suffered the loss against Baylor to fall to 4-1 on the season after pitching all seven innings, striking out eight and only walking one and allowing the one earned run.
In the final game of the tournament for the Jaguars, they defeated UT-Chatanooga 2-1 to go 4-1 in the 2014 Gulf Coast Classic.
Farish Beard struck out nine batters in four innings to improve to 9-1 on the season. Hannah Campbell struck out a two in three innings of relief to earn her third save of the season.
Stephanie Pilkington led USA by going 3-for-3 and scoring the game-winning run. Chloe Rathburn broke the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fourth inning after Rodgers tied the game up in the previous inning after Clara Bowen’s RBI single.
USA outhit UT-Chatanooga 5-2 and took advantage of advantage of two errors by the Moc’s.
The Jaguars are now 15-2 on the season and will next travel to Boca Raton, Florida next weekend for the Parents’ Weekend Tournament hosted by Florida Atlantic.
USA Softball Sweep Pair Of Friday Games; Sets up Top-15 Clash Saturday Night
The Jaguar softball team swept their two games on Friday in the Gulf Coast Classic in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Farish Beard and Hannah Campbell both earned wins with Chloe Rathburn and Emily Messer supplying two RBI each in wins over Ohio University and Nicholls State.
Beard (7-1) struck out 12 Ohio University batters and walked one in a 3-0 win over the Bobcats. Then Campbell (4-0) struck out nine with no walks in a 2-1 win over Nicholls State. Both Beard and Campbell allowed one hit each as the Jags out hit their opponents 10-2 combined on Friday.
Rathburn went 3-for-6 with two RBI and a solo home run to give the Jags the lead against Ohio University. Messer’s two RBI, which scored Taylor Rodgers and Alex Breeden, extended the Jaguar lead to 3-0.
Stephanie Pilkington scored both of the Jaguars runs against Nicholls State in the night cap. She went 2-for-4 with a team-leading third triple of the season. Freshman Amanda Minahan went 2-for-3 with an RBI double to help lead the Jaguars to the win.
The #14 ranked South Alabama Jaguars (13-1) will play two games today. Their first is against UT-San Antonio at 2pm. Then they have a top-15 clash against #12 Baylor at 8pm in the nightcap.
Baseball And Softball Games Cancelled Yesterday
Both the Softball and Baseball games that were scheduled for Wednesday were cancelled.
The Softball teams trip to Thibadaux was cancelled due to heavy rain in the area and the rescheduled date has not yet been determined. Though they will face each other this weekend in Gulfport for the Gulf Coast Softball Classic.
The baseball team’s game against Jacksonville State was also cancelled due to unplayable conditions at Eddie Stanky Field. Rain that pass through overnight Tuesday night continued into Wednesday morning forcing the cancellation.
No makeup date has been announced yet. The Jags will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas for a three-game weekend series against the #24 Razorbacks.
USA Softball Rises To 14 In Latest Poll; Takes On Nicholls State This Evening
Blair Johnson, a junior, earned her first SBC Player of the Week honor after batting .556 and driving in eight runs as the Jags went 4-0 over the weekend at the Diamond 9 2014 Citrus Classic in Orlando and defeated #17 Georgia. | Photo: usajaguars.com
The Jaguar Softball team moved up in the weekly polls again this week after going a perfect 5-0 on the week including a 3-2 win over then #17 ranked Georgia.
The Jags moved up to #14 in the USA Today/NFCA poll and to #16 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. They were previously ranked #19 in both polls last week.
They will travel to Thibodaux, Louisiana for a mid-week matchup this afternoon at 5pm. The Jags are currently riding a six game winning streak into the game with an 11-1 overall record on the season.
Their only loss came against Northwestern in the 2014 Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge which they rebounded from and defeated the host, #21 ranked LSU Tigers. They were originally scheduled to go to Athens, Georgia for the Bulldog Classic, but it was cancelled due to weather concerns.
Blair Johnson was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week on Monday for her performance over the last week.
But the game against Nicholls State has lost of meaning as head coach Becky Clark would get her 400th win as a Jaguar if her team can prevail today.
USA Softball’s Johnson Named SBC Player of the Week
Blair Johnson, a junior, earned her first SBC Player of the Week honor after batting .556 and driving in eight runs as the Jags went 4-0 over the weekend at the Diamond 9 2014 Citrus Classic in Orlando and defeated #17 Georgia. | Photo: usajaguars.com
The South Alabama Softball’s Blair Johnson was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for her performance over the past week, the conference office announced on Monday.
This is the first she has earned the award in her career and the second for a Jaguar this season.
Johnson, a junior from Kimberly, Alabama, went 10-for-18 a .556 batting average last week while driving in eight runs. She also had a .889 slugging percentage and a .526 on-base percentage as well.
She hit a two-run home run against the #17 Georgia Bulldogs to propel the Jaguars to a 3-2 win, their third over a nationally ranked team this season.
Against Lehigh, she drove in four RBI to tie the teams singe-game record.
For the season, Johnson is batting .429 with a .686 slugging percentage, 13 RBI which are both leading the team while it tied for the most hits on the team with 15.
Congratulations Blair! Go Jags!
South Alabama Sports – Weekend Roundup
Men’s Basketball
The Men’s basketball team took Coach Graves’ words to heart and went out and dominated the first half against Troy to help earn a 86-78 win on Saturday night at the Mitchell Center.
“What I told our guys was, this is a must win game,” head coach Matthew Graves said. “If you want to compete in New Orleans for a conference championship you have to win tonight. I thought our energy and effort from the opening tip was outstanding. We got off to a great start. The first half was as well-played a first half that we’ve had all year, on both ends of the floor. Then, in the second half, we really played to protect the lead instead of just playing the game and keep attacking. We got really conservative and I thought Troy got on a great run there. They have some tremendous shooters. Certainly if you give up 54 points in a half, you don’t expect to win very often, but our guys made enough plays down the stretch.”
The Jags jumped out to a 26 point lead in the first half but Troy would cut the lead down to only six points on two occasions in the second half but the Jags reponded each time to keep their hopes for a berth in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament alive.
Rubit earned a double-double in the game with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. He also set a new career high with five assists while going 8-for-15 from the floor with two blocks. He also tied Terry Catledge for career double-doubles with 52 as he earned his 10th of the season.
Five Jaguars scored in double digits, a season-high for the team. Ken Williams added 18 points, one shy of a career high, with four assists. Senior Antoine Allen added 15 points off the bench while sophomore Barrington Stevens III and junior Mychal Ammons added 11 points each.
Williams scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half going 4-of-6 from three-point range. But then did not score again until 6:39 left in the second half, though they came at a key time for the Jaguars.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Williams sparked South Alabama to a 26-7 run to open the game.
Troy went on a 12-3 run as the Jaguars went almost six minutes without a field goal with 7:29 left in the game. But the Jags would answer with the next five points to stretch the lead back out to double digits.
“I thought we were flat,” Troy head coach Phil Cunningham said. “As I told the coaches before we left the huddle in the first half that we were flat. It’s obvious how big of a game this was, but I just sensed that we were flat. But I also sensed at halftime that we could get back in the game because in the last couple minutes of the first half, we made that little run on them. Give them credit, they made shots. They were lighting that thing up from everywhere in the first half.”
“I do think fatigue played a little bit of a factor,” Graves said of Troy’s comeback attempt. “We were on the road Thursday and with the quick turnaround and Aakim’s (Saintil) limited minutes due to foul trouble. I think those guys got tired, but at the same time, Troy has a couple guys that can really shoot the basketball. When they get feeling good and get in a rhythm, they’re certainly capable of making shots. We missed a couple switches and a couple things on our rotation. In large part, it was due to our fatigue and you have to credit Troy because they could have easily rolled over, but they kept fighting until the end.”
The Jaguars have a two-game road swing this week to close out their road games for the regular season. They will continue their fight to get into the conference tournament when they travel to Louisiana-Monroe on Thursday for a 7pm game.
Softball
USA Softball Downs UAB 2-1 In 11 Innings
The #19 ranked South Alabama Jaguar softball team needed 11 innings to eventually defeat UAB 2-1 in Birmingham yesterday.
UAB took the lead 1-0 in the fourth inning but freshman right fielder Amanda Minahan came through in the clutch by delivering a two-out game-tying RBI in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the game into extra innings.
The Jaguars junior catcher Alex Breeden would later hit a routine grounder to shortstop, but the throw would sail wide of first base and allowing Kaitlyn Griffith to score the go-ahead, and eventual game-winning, run in the top of the 11th inning.
Senior Hannah Campbell got a no decision as she pitched 7 1/3 innings with five strikeouts, one earned run and no walks. Farish Beard earned the win by pitching 3 2/3 innings of relief with seven strikeouts. She retired the last three batters in order.
UAB’s Lannah Campbell, Hannah’s sister, suffered the loss for the Blazers and falls to 0-3 on the season. She struck out two and allowed the game-winning run, though it was unearned. Leigh Streetman was the starter for the Blazers and pitched 6 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and no walks.
Though the Blazers outhit the Jags 9-8, but they committed two errors to the Jaguars one.
This was the longest game for the Jags since an 11 inning game against Troy in 2010 at Jaguar Field. The team is now 16-1 in their last 17 road games dating back to the 2013 season and have now won the last six meetings against the Blazers to improve their record against them to 9-2 all-time.
“This was the matchup people were looking for in opening night – a pitcher’s night,” Jaguar head coach Becky Clark said. “All four pitchers were sharp. There wasn’t a lot of offense, because there was good pitching and good defense. It was a great game.”
“I was proud of our freshmen tonight,” Clark continued. “They stepped up. Taylor Rodgers had some great at-bats. Minahan, Chloe [Rathburn] and those guys stepped up. They’ve been working really hard, and I’m proud of them.”
The 7-1 Jaguars will travel to Orlando this weekend for the Diamond 9 Classic at Walt Disney’s Wide World of Sports.