South Alabama Sports – Weekend Update
Softball
The #15 ranked South Alabama Softball team lost two of three to conference leader Louisiana-Lafayette over the weekend to fall to 32-8 overall and 9-4 in Conference play.
On Saturday, the Jags split a double-header with #18 ranked ULL taking game one 6-2 but the Jags came back in the nightcap to even the series with an 8-4 win.
Stephanie Pilkington led the Jaguars at the plate on Saturday by going 4-for-8 with three RBI and a run scored. Blair Johnson, Taylor Rodgers and Alex Breeden all had three hits each and combined for three RBI and two runs scored.
Hannah Campbell got the win in game two after she struck out six with two walks and scattering four hits and allowed all four runs, but only two of them earned.
Farish Beard took the loss in game one after allowing six runs, all earned, on seven hits while striking out one with one walk.
On Sunday they fell 5-1 to give ULL the series. Though the Jags scored first in the top of the second inning, the Ragin’ Cajuns scored five unanswered runs over the next two innings to hand the Jaguars their second consecutive SBC series defeat.
Alex Breeden was the lone run for the Jaguars on Saturday with a one-out solo home run to put her team-leading number at seven on the season.
Campbell took the loss to fall to 13-4 on the season after allowing five runs, only one earned, on seven hits with only one strikeout and one walk. Holly McKinnon threw two innings of shutout relief with on strikeout and two walks and only allowing one hit.
South Alabama will have the week off until the Weekend series against Georgia State. They will play a double-header on Friday beginning at 4pm at Jaguar Field and will play the final game on Saturday beginning at noon ahead of Easter Sunday the next day.
Baseball
Locke St. John and Ben Taylor combined for a four-hit shutout against Arkansas State on Friday to start the weekend off with a 5-0 win. But would drop the next two games to lose the series.
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South Alabama Sports – Weekend Preview
Baseball
The Jaguar baseball team will host Arkansas State for a three-game weekend series at Eddie Stanky Field starting Friday evening at 6:30pm.
Locke St. John (3-1) will make his ninth start of the season against right hander David Owen (4-1) for the Red Wolves. USA enters the game after taking two of three games from Texas State last weekend but dropping a midweek game to Nicholls State 15-4. USA has an overall season record of 15-17 and a 5-6 record in the Sun Belt.
Saturday night the Jags and Red Wolves will get underway at 6:30pm again with right hander Kevin Hill (2-4) taking the mound against lefty Chandler Hawkins (2-4) for ASU. The two will round out the weekend with a 1pm start on Sunday with righty Bradley Wallace (3-3) taking the mound for ASU while USA has not named a starter for Sunday yet.
Arkansas State enters the game with an 18-15 record overall and an 8-4 record in conference play.
Softball
The Jaguars will be in Lafayette taking on fellow Sun Belt powerhouse Louisiana-Lafayette in a three game series. Saturday they will start it off with a double-header beginning at 2pm.
USA enters the game after a 3-2 win over Mississippi State and sporting a 31-6 record overall and a conference record of 8-2. ULL enters the weekend on a 13-game winning streak with an overall record of 28-6-1 and a perfect conference record of 9-0, which puts them on top of the standings for the conference.
Track and Field
The USA Men’s and Women’s track and field teams will compete in their third and final home event as they host the 14th annual South Alabama Invitational at Jaguar Track on Friday and Saturday.
Fellow Sun Belt schools Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Troy will be in attendance as well as Belhaven, Birmingham Southern, Loyola (La.), Tulane, West Florida and William Carey.
The Jaguars will also recognize 13 graduating seniors in a brief ceremony on Saturday. Tyler Agee, Nick Farell, Leah Hixon, Noelle Jones, Jarrod Kedzior, Tori Lawson, Jeff Long, Melissa McClusky, Adam Patterson, Garrett Schumacher, Alex Shields, Connor Smith, and Bobbie Williamson will be the ones honored.
Women’s Golf
The Women’s Golf team will compete in the Sun Belt Championships beginning on Monday at Steelwood Country Club in Loxley, Alabama. The event will run through Wednesday.
Football
Head coach Joey Jones announced that Quinton Dent has signed a National Letter-of-Intent to join the South Alabama football team this fall.
Dent played the previous two seasons at Laney (Ca.) Community College and is the second JuCo defensive back to sign with USA this spring and raises the number of secondary players in this recruiting class to ten.
Dent is a 6’3″, 180-pound native of Haines City, FL. He earned first-team all-Golden Gate Conference Central Division honors last fall as he helped his team to an 8-3 record. He recorded 32 total tackles, 23 of them solo, with three interceptions and a team-best 13 passes broken up.
Jags Softball Defeats Mississippi State 3-2
South Alabama Softball downed Mississippi State 3-2 at Jaguar Field Wednesday evening after the Bulldogs threatened with bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning.
Farish Beard earned the win to move to 17-3 on the season with four scoreless innings with three strikeouts and two walks and only allowing two hits. Hannah Campbell closed out the game by retiring three consecutive Bulldogs.
The Jags scored all of their runs in the bottom of the second inning. Alex Breeden hit a one-out double to left field and had Alyssa Linn pinch-run for her. Then Amanda Herron would hit a two-run homer, her third homer of the year, to take a 2-0 lead. Taylor Rodgers would reach base after being hit by a pitch and would score when Stephanie Pilkington hit a two-out RBI single.
Pilkington went 2-for-3 to lead USA. Chloe Rathburn, Breeden and Herron all had a hit each as the Jags had five hits, the same number as the Bulldogs in the game.
MSU would score their first run in the top of the fifth inning by way of an error. Campbell would hit the first batter she faced but then retired the next six bulldogs she faced.
In the top of the seventh the first three batters all hit singles to load the bases against Campbell. Then a sacrifice fly to right field would score one run to cut the Jaguar lead to 3-2 then Campbell closed it out by retiring the next two batters preserving the win.
The Jags will travel to #18/20 Louisiana-Lafayette for a three game series starting with a double-header on Saturday at 2pm then the third and final game on Sunday starting at 1pm. Saturday’s games will be broadcased on ESPN3 and the link to watch is http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/1748519/NCAA-Softball-South-Alabama-vs-Louisiana-Lafayette
USA Softball Drops In Polls, Face Mississippi State This Evening
The South Alabama Jaguar softball team fell a few spots in this weeks polls after going 1-3 last week.
They fell from the #11 spot last week to #15 in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 poll and to #16 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll.
They look to shrug off last week’s performance and start this week off on the right foot when they host Mississippi State Wednesday afternoon at Jaguar Field. The all-time series between the two is knotted at 2-2 after the Jags won a pair of games last season against the Bulldogs.
MSU enters the game with a 30-12 record overall and a 3-9 record in SEC play while the Jaguars enter with a 30-6 record and 8-2 in Sun Belt play. USA continues to have the best ERA in the nation for the fourth consecutive week. As a team the Jags have an ERA of 0.99 while Farish Beard continues to lead the nation with her ERA of 0.64. Hannah Campbell currently sits fifth in the nation in ERA with a 0.78.
After Alabama’s win over the Jaguars last week, they moved up to #2/3 in the Top 25 polls. They are third in the USA Today poll and second in the ESPN.com poll. Oregon is the top team in both polls but UCLA and UA are second or third depending on the poll.
South Alabama continues to be the top ranked team in the Sun Belt, but Louisiana-Lafayette has closed in on the Jaguars. While the Jags are 15th in the USA Today Poll, the Cajuns are 18th in the same poll. In the ESPN.com Poll they are ranked 20th.
After MSU, the Jags will travel to Lafayette for a three-game weekend series against the #18/20 ranked Cajuns.
The Jags and the Bulldogs will get underway at Jaguar Field at 6pm.
South Alabama Sports – Weekend Roundup
Baseball
South Alabama won the series in their first time facing Texas State 2-1.
In the first game, the Jags and the Bobcats went to the 13th inning before Drew LaBounty delivered a one-out RBI single to left field breaking the deadlock in the top of the inning to lead the Jaguars to a 5-4 win in the first game.
Ben Taylor earned the win (3-1) with 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief with only three hits, one walk and a career high six strikeouts.
The Jags had to rally to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning as they were trailing by one run. Justin Cullifer reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Matt Wojciechowski moved pinch runner Cole Jarman to second. LaBounty then hit a two-out RBI single to right field to score Jarman and tie the game at 4-4.
In game two Texas State’s Austen Williams threw a complete-game shutout to lead the Bobcats over the Jaguars 2-0.
Williams (4-1) only allowed four hits while striking out seven and only issuing one walk. USA’s Kevin Hill (2-4) also pitched a complete game in the loss. He allowed two runs on five hits with eight strikeouts and four walks. Over the final five innings he only allowed two hits.
On Sunday, the Jaguars clinched the series with a 7-2 win.
USA scored in each of the first three innings of the game then added three more runs in the top of the ninth inning to secure the win.
Cole Gleason got on base with a two-out walk. He was followed by Hayden Jones’ single that bounced off of Bobcat pitcher Lucas Humpal. Mojciechowski then singled through the right side to score Gleason for an early 1-0.
The Jags added to their lead in the top of the second when Drew LaBounty led off the inning with a single to right field. He advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Andrew Tindell. Adam Ballew would drive Labounty in on a one-out RBI sincle to right field.
In the top of the third, Connor Hawthorne doubled down the left field line with two outs. LaBounty would drive him in with an RBI double to left center field as the Jags took a 3-0 lead.
Texas State would cut the lead to 3-2 and threatened more, but Hunter Soleymani worked himself out of the jam by inducing a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Ballew would drive in a run on a fielders choice in the sixth inning where Hawthorne would score from third base for the Jags to take a 4-2 lead.
The final runs of the game started when Ballew reached by being hit by a pitch and Cole Cummings reaching on a fielders choice. Gleason would hit a two-run double to the right center gap to score Ballew and Cummings. Wojciechowski would ground out to second for the second out of the inning, but it allowed Gleason to score for the final score of 7-2.
The team will travel to Thibodaux, Louisiana on Wednesday for a 6pm match-up with Nicholls State before a weekend series against Arkansas State at Eddie Stanky Field.
Softball
The #11 ranked Jaguars also faced Texas State over the weekend in San Marcos, Texas but the Bobcats took series 2-1 after splitting Saturday’s double-header.
In the opening game the Jags won 8-0 as Amanda Minahan went 2-for-4 with a record tying two home runs in a game while scoring three runs and three RBI. Stephanie Pilkington was 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored.
Hannah Campbell earned her 12th win of the season after striking out seven with no walks and only five hits for her fourth shutout of the season.
Freshman Holly McKinnon pitched 2/3 of an inning and struck out both batters she faced to end the game.
In game two the Jags fell 4-1 as the Bobcats jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. The Jags scored their only run when Chloe Rathburn’s triple drove in Blair Johnson, who led off the inning with a walk. Kaitlyn Griffith was hit by a pitch and Amanda Herron walked to load the bases but the Jags could not push any more runs across the plate.
On Sunday, the Jags stranded 10 runners in their 4-3 loss to Texas State.
The Jags fall to 30-6 overall and 8-2 in conference play. Texas State improves to 21-20 overall and 4-5 in conference play.
Three lead changes in the game would begin when TSU took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
The Jags would respond in the top of the fourth when freshman Taylor Rodgers hit a two-run homer for a 2-1 lead, but it would be short lived.
Three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning would put the hosts ahead 4-2.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Jags would have runners on the corner, but could not produce a run. In the top of the seventh, Blair Johnson would lead off the inning with a single. Alex Breeden would reach on a two-out fielding error and allowing Johnson to score, but pinch runner Alyssa Linn would be thrown out at third base to finish the game.
Hannah Campbell took the loss (12-3) after giving up six hits and four runs, all earned, while striking out five and four walks.
The Jags will hope to get back on the winning side on wednesday when they host Mississippi State at Jaguar Field for a 6pm game.
Track and Field
USA men’s and women’s track and field teams broke a school record and earned four wins at the Tiger Classic in Auburn, Alabama.
Renaldo Frechou set the Jaguar record in the men’s hammer throw for the fourth time this season with a 63.87m on his sixth and final attempt. He earned the top individual honor int he 20-man field for the event.
Five Jags finished in the top 10 as Adam Patterson (58.37m) and Jeff Long (56.60m) placed third and fourth whiel Jarrod Kedzior and Jan-Louw Kotze finished ninth and tenth. Bobbie Williamson took third place with a 56.26m throw on her final try.
Noelle Jones won the Javelin with a throw of 44.08m. Ashton Pennington finished second with a throw of 39.97m. Sarah Petty finished fifth with a 37.73m throw. Robert King finished seventh for the men with a 53.05m throw.
Kotze won the discus throw in a field of 21 individuals with a throw of 55.25m.
Joe Gratton won the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:35.56 for his first career win in the event.
All of the final results can be found here.
South Alabama Sports – Weekend Preview
Baseball
The Jaguar baseball team will face Texas State for the first time on the baseball diamond this weekend starting tonight at 6:30pm in San Marcos, Texas.
The Jags are in the midst of a five game losing streak and carries a 13-15 record into the game. They lost midweek games against Southeastern Louisiana and Southern Mississippi. Though the Jaguars lead the conference in sacrifice bunts, they are last in the conference in hits, runs scored, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, total bases, doubles and home runs.
Texas State is 17-11 overall and 6-3 in conference play this season. They have won two of their last five games. They are batting .247 as a team with a staff ERA of 3.70.
Starting for the Jaguars in game one is Locke St. John (3-1). Kevin Hill (2-3) will start game two and the Jags have not announced a starter for the series finale on Sunday.
Texas State is currently third in the conference while the Jags are sitting eighth out of ten schools.
All of the games can be heard on 105.5FM WNSP or WNSP.com online. Saturday’s game will start at 3pm and Sunday will get underway at 1pm.
Softball
The Jaguar softball team will also be in San Marcos, Texas for a three game Sun Belt Conference series against the Bobcats.
They will play a double-header on Saturday with their first game set for 1pm and the second scheduled for 3pm. They will wrap up the series on Sunday beginning at 11am.
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USA Softball Win Streak Snapped By #4 Alabama 3-0
The Jaguar softball team had their 13-game winning streak and their 17-game road winning streak broken on Wednesday evening by #4 ranked Alabama by a score of 3-0.
South Alabama matched the Crimson Tide in hits and Farish Beard pitched five innings of shutout ball, but the bottom of the second inning saw them put up three runs which the Jaguars could not muster a response.
In the top of the second, Amanda Herron reached base on a fielding error by the Tide’s shortstop. Alex Breeden followed with USA’s first hit of the game, a two-out single through the left side of the infield. Then the pitch would get by the catcher to allow the runners to advance to second and thir, but Taylor Rodger’s would line out end the inning.
In the bottom of the second, UA’s Andrea Hawkins would drop a double in left field just over Kaitlyn Griffith’s head which allowed Leona Lafaele who reached on an error, Jackie Traina who was hit by a pitch and Haylie McCleney who was walked to all score.
The Jags had another chance in the top of the fifth with runners on second and third, but they could not get another hit to drive them across the plate.
Beard (16-2) pitched six innings and allowed five hits and three runs, all unearned, with four strikeouts and a walk for the Jaguars.
Sydney Littlejohn pitched four innings and allowed three hits with two strikeouts and no walks to pick up the win. Jaclyn Traina pitched three innings and allowed two hits whiel striking out four with no walks to pick up her second save of the season.
Beard’s NCAA-leading ERA fell to 0.40 in the loss.
South Alabama will look travel to San Marcos, Texas for a three game weekend series against the Bobcats. They will play a double-header on Saturday with games at 1pm and 3pm with Sunday’s game set to start at 11am.
USA Softball Moves Up In Polls, Takes on #4 Alabama This Evening
South Alabama’s Softball team is starting to draw more national attention. Coming off of back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Championships they had high expectations for 2014 and they have not disappointed.
In the midst of a 13 game winning streak they have climbed to #11 in both the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25 poll and the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 poll.
Earlier in the week Hannah Campbell became the first Jaguar female to be drafted professionally when she was selected third overall in the National Pro Fastpitch Draft. Then she and Farish Beard were both featured in an ESPNW.com article about South Alabama’s softball program and how it’s built on local players. (You can read it here.)
The Jaguars will have a big opportunity to make a big jump in the polls and to knock off the top ranked program in the state when they travel to #4 ranked University of Alabama this evening.
The Jags (29-3, 7-0 SBC) puts their 13-game win streak, 17-game road win streak and best-ever poll ranking on the line against Alabama (31-5, 11-1 SEC). USA enters with the best overall ERA in the nation and the highest ranking in program history, but the Tide lead the all-time series 8-0. Last season the Crimson Tide defeated the Jags 4-0 to snap the Jaguars 12-game winning streak.
USA has defeated then #17 ranked Georgia and then #21 ranked LSU this season to hold a 2-0 record against SEC opponents.
The Jags and the Tide get underway at 6pm in Tuscaloosa in what could very well be one of the best games of the season. The game can be heard through Jaguar All-Access.
Pilkington Named SBC Player of the Week
Sophomore Stephanie Pilkington batted .545 with six runs scored last week to help the Jags go 4-0 in their four games. | Photo by: usajaguars.com
Stephanie Pilkington was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for her play over the past week.
The Jags went 4-0 last week in their games with the help of Pilkington’s .545 batting average (6-for-11), six runs scored and an RBI. She had a slugging percentage of .545, an on-base percentage of .667 as well. She has regained the team lead in batting average with a .354 mark. She also has a seven-game on-base streak.
The Sophomore is a native of Lake City, Florida and is the second Jaguar to be named SBC Player of the Week. Out of the eight voting periods this season, a Jaguar has been honored five times. Blair Johnson was named SBC Player of the Week on February 24 and Farish Beard was named SBC Pitcher of the Week three times in the first five weeks of the season.
This is Pilkington’s first SBC Weekly awards honor.
USA Softball’s Campbell Selected Third Overall In NFP Draft
Hannah Campbell, selected third overall in the 2014 National Pro Fastpitch Draft on Monday. She is the first Jaguar student-athlete and first female in school history to be drafted professionally. | usajaguars.com
South Alabama senior pitcher Hannah Campbell has blazed a trail since she stepped onto campus. She blazed a new one Monday afternoon when she became the first softball student-athlete and the first female in school history to be drafted professionally when she was selected third overall by the Akron (Ohio) Racers in the 2014 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) Draft.
The Satsuma native has a 76-30 record in her three-and-a-half years at South Alabama with a career ERA of 1.66. She was the first Jaguar to ever be selected as an All-American when the National Fastpitch Coaches Association selected her for second-team honors.
She is also a three-time NFCA All-South Region selection and back-to-back Most Oustanding PLayer of the SBC Tournament in 2012 and 2013. She has thrown two perfect games in her career at USA, the only two in school history, and was named to USA Softball’s Top-50 “Watch List” for collegiate Player of the Year award.
She currently holds a number of USA Softball records including: Wins (76), Saves (15), Complete games (85), Shutouts (26), Strikeouts looking (162), and Fewest Walks Allowed per 7 Innings (1.28).
The Akron Racers finished third in the four-team NPF league last season with a 16-32 record. They are the oldest existing team in the league and are headquartered in Akron, Ohio. They competed in the Women’s Pro Softball League (WPSL) for two seasons in 1999 and 2000 and has been part of the NPF since 2004.
Head coach Becky Clark said, “If you look at her body of work from the time that she’s been here, it’s incredibly impressive. For us to come in as quickly as we did into a conference that has such a powerhouse in Louisiana-Lafayette and for Hannah to be the pitcher on the mound that breaks their streak of Sun Belt Conference championships is phenomenal.”
“Her no-hitter last season against ULL was the crux of the [2013 Sun Belt Conference] tournament,” Clark continued. “She’s worked incredibly hard for all of this. She’s not scared to compete. She’s a great teammate, she has a great mental game and she wants to be the best at what she does.”
Congratulations Hannah! Not only is JagNation proud of you, but all of Mobile is proud of you!