12th Ranked Jaguar Softball Team Downs Troy 9-1 On The Road
Freshman Amanda Minahan, a Lisle, Ill, broke open the game against Troy with a three-run homer in the fifth inning and scored twice herself. | Photo: usajaguars.com
The #12 ranked South Alabama softball team extended their latest winning streak to 10 games after defeating their in-state conference rival Troy 9-1 on Wednesday evening.
The Jags (26-3, 4-0 SBC) were held hitless through the first three innings before their bats came to life and starting pushing the runs across the plate. In the next four innings the Jags would score nine runs on nine hits.
Farish Beard moved to 15-1 on the season as she struck out nine Trojans and allowed four hits and one earned run.
Freshman Chloe Rathburn and Amanda Minahan both led the Jaguars in the game. Rathburn went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Minahan had three RBI on a three-run homer in the fifth inning and scored a pair of runs herself.
Stephanie Pilkington was 1-for-3 with two runs scored whiel Blair Johnson, Alyssa Linn, Gwen Jones and Taylor Rodgers all also scored runs. Alex Breeden and Amanda Herron both had an RBI each.
Troy’s lone score came after Kacie McAllister hit the first triple against the Jaguars all season. She would score on a sacrifice hit by Erica Davis.
South Alabama will host Louisiana-Monroe this weekend for a three game series. They will get started on Saturday with a double-header beginning at 1pm and the second game at 3pm. Then the series finale at 1pm on Sunday.
South Alabama Sports – Weekend Update
Softball
The USA Softball team swept their first conference series of the season against UT-Arlington over the weekend.
The first two games were both shortened by the mercy rule with 9-0 and 8-0 wins.
Farish Beard and Hannah Campbell both tossed shutouts and combined to only allow three hits. Actually the Jags outhit the Mavricks 19-3 on Saturday.
Kaitlyn Griffith and Amanda Minahan led the Jags at the plate with four hits each. Amanda Herron, Blair Johnson and Stephanie Pilkington all had three RBI each.
In the first game Beard shrunk her nation-leading ERA to just 0.35 after allowing only one hit and no runs against the Mavricks. She struck out 11 batters for her seventh shutout of the season.
Campbell was seventh in the country in ERA and also saw hers shrink further to 0.72 as she allowed two hits with four strikeouts and no walks in her shutout.
On Sunday, the Jags needed an extra inning to finally put away the Mavricks to earn their weekend sweep with a 2-1 win. The Jags outhit the Mavricks 7-3 but committed four errors.
Blair Johnson led the Jags at the plate by going 3-for-4 and scoring the game-winning run when Amanda Herron hit a two-out double in the bottom of the eighth inning. Herron ended the weekend with a team-high four RBI.
Gwen Jones scored the game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning when UTA’s shortstop’s routine throw to first sailed into the visitor’s dugout.
Beard struck out seven in six innings and allowed one run before Hannah Campbell came in for relief. Campbell tossed a shutout to move to 9-2 on the season after striking out one and no walks to earn the win.
The Jags will play at Troy on Tuesday before returning home to host Louisiana-Monroe for a three game weekend series on Saturday and Sunday.
Baseball
Read more
South Alabama Sports Weekend Preview
Softball
The #13 ranked Jaguars will host UT-Arlington for a three game weekend series on Saturday and Sunday at Jaguar Field.
The Jags (22-3) are on a six game winning streak after going 3-0 last week with Hannah Campbell’s second career perfect game, a 9-0 run-rule win over New Mexico State and a 5-1 win over Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
USA pitchers currently leads the nation with an overall ERA of 0.95 with Farish Beard leading the NCAA with a 0.38 ERA and Campbell with a 0.76 ERA as well.
The Jaguars are undefeated at home so far this season, going 6-0. Last season they were 8-3 at home in conference play and 17-3 overall. They clinched the second overall seed in the conference tournament and won the 2013 SBC Championship to win the conference tournament title for the second consecutive year.
This will be the Jags first time to face UT-Arlington who are 14-15 on the season and batting .283 and are 1-3 on the road. This is also the Mavricks first season playing in the Sun Belt Conference.
They will face off at 1pm and again at 3pm on Saturday before wrapping up the series at noon on Sunday.
Baseball
The 10-9 Jags will be in Little Rock, Arkansas to face UALR in a three game weekend series. The Jaguars are 10-9 on the season and 1-1 in conference play and are coming off of a 9-0 loss to #6 LSU on Wednesday.
UALR is also 10-9 on the season and 0-3 in conference play as they were swept by Arkansas State last weekend in Jonesboro, Arkansas. They have lost six of their last eight games but defeated #30 Oklahoma 11-2 on Wednesday in Norman, Oklahoma.
USA’s Kevin Hill will make his fourth start of the season tonight at 6pm. UALR lefty Travis McDonald (2-1) will bring his 1.95 ERA to the game against the Jaguars who are batting .235 as a team.
Locke St. John (2-0) will make his sixth start of the season at 4pm on Saturday and no starter has been named for Sunday’s 1pm game.
All three games can be heard locally and online on 105.5 WNSP and WNSP.com or live streamed video can be purchased at UALRTrojans.com.
Track and Field
After two straight contests at home, the Jaguar men and women are in Tuscaloosa for the Alabama Relays, which started on Thursday. Events start today at 2pm with women’s javelin throw and running events begin at 5pm. Saturday at noon will open with the women’s discus throw.
The Jags won the Battle of I-65 last weekend over Samford and Alabama State and look to continue that momentum this weekend against even stronger competition. Live results can be found here.
No Sun Belt Expansion Just Yet
Last week during the Sun Belt Conference tournament, conference commissioner Karl Benson and the SBC schools met while they were all in New Orleans and the conversation of expansion was not something they voted on in their meetings.
With Western Kentucky leaving for Conference USA, they have been discussing the possibility of adding a 12th school to the conference. Early last year they opted against immediately adding a 12th football playing school and if they intend to add a FCS school for the 2015 season, they would need to do so by June 1.
Benson is not sure when or if a vote will take place when the same administrators from the represtative schools gather together again in mid-May for the annual spring meetings.
WKU leaves the Sun Belt to join other former members Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Florida International and Florida Atlantic in Conference USA.
The reason for a 12th football team would be to achieve geographic balance with the creation of two divisions would give the conference the opportunity for a conference football championship game which would give the league more visibility and more revenue.
At least four current FCS programs are interested and one that continues to be mentioned each time the conversation starts is Liberty University in Virginia. They have either won outright or shared the Big South Conference championship from 2007 through 2013.
Benson said that, “We’re going through the process of evaluating and doing our due diligence,” when he spoke about adding a 12th school. But he did not indicate if that due diligence included Liberty or any school in particular.
If one is to get an invite they would need to get 75% of the Sun Belt member schools to vote for their admission.
South Alabama Sports – Weekend Roundup
Baseball
Troy righty Tanner Hicks pitched a complete game shutout on Friday night to lead the Trojans over South Alabama 5-0 in the opening game of the series.
Hicks allowed only six hits while striking out five and walking one to even his record for the season at 2-2.
USA righty Kevin Hill tossed 6 1/3 innings allowing three earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts and four walks. Cameron Carleton and Dillon Buhrkuhl combined to pitch 2 2/3rds scoreless innings in relief.
In game two the Jags evened the series but needed an extra inning to do so. Cole Gleason hit a walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the 10th inning to give USA the 2-1 win to even the series.
In the bottom of the 10th, Bud Collura singled up the middle and then advanced to second on a wild pitch to set up Gleason for the game-winner.
Brandon Hallford earned the win with 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief. He did not allow a hit while striking out one. Locke St. John threw 7 2/3 innings and allowed only one run on seven hits with five strikeouts and no walks but got the no decision.
The third game, which was scheduled as a double-header on Saturday due to weather concerns, was suspended in the bottom of the fourth inning on Saturday due to heavy rains. It was scheduled to resume at 1pm on Sunday, but was cancelled due to inclement weather. There is no word about a possible makeup date.
South Alabama will travel to Baton Rouge on Wednesday for a 6:30pm game agaisnt LSU.
Softball
Read more
Meghan Dunn Selected To All-Sun Belt Conference Team
Meghan Dunn was selected to the All-Sun Belt Conference Third Team on Tuesday for her first postseason All-Conference honor in her career.
She was selected to the third-team by conference coaches and media on Tuesday and she extended the streak to 12-consecutive seasons at least one lady Jaguar was named to the All-Conference team.
In her final game as a Jaguar she recorded 23 points and four steals as she was key in the Jaguars 60-57 overtime win against UT-Arlington. Her four points in the final seconds of regulation sent the game to overtime, where she sunk four free throws to help seal the win in the extra period. She also blocked the game-tying three-point attempt defensively.
She finished the season tied for 10th in the conference in scoring. Even though she was keyed on by opposing defenses, she still managed to score double-digits 20 times this season and 13 of her final 18 Sun Belt games.
With injuries to Brittany Webb and Colby Davis, Dunn was forced to take over the point guard position and managed to average 13.1 points and 3.2 assists per game through the final nine games at that position.
Rubit Earns His Record Setting Fourth Consecutive All-Sun Belt Team Honor
Rubit sets yet another Jaguar record with his fourth consecutive All-Sun Belt Conference Team honor. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Augustine Rubit has not finished adding to his record setting career just yet. He set another school record on Tuesday when he was selected by conference coaches and media to the All-Sun Belt Conference team for the fourth consecutive year.
Rubit, a second-team selection this season, was a third-team selection in 2011 and a first-team selection in 2012 and 2013. This season he was the sixth leading scorer in the conference with an average of 17 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. He shot 46.3% from the floor and earned 12 double-doubles. He also finished the season fourth in blocks per game with 1.4. The 12 double-doubles and his rebounding average was third-best in the conference too.
In the Jaguars 31 games this season he scored 20+ points in 10 of them, including a career-high 35 points against #16 Gonzaga. He only failed three times to reach double-digits scoring this season.
He set the schools rebounding record in November, surpassed the 1,000 rebound mark in December and became the Sun Belt Conference’s All-Time leader a week later. He ends his career with 1,183 as well as holds three of the top five spots in the school’s single-season list.
Rubit also set school records with career free throws made (550), career free throws attempted (763), and double-doubles (54). He ranks second in points scored (1,917), fifth in field goals made (673), 3rd in field goals attempted (1,360), third in rebounding average (10.0), 3rd in blocks (139) and tied for 2nd in games played (118).
He was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week six times in his career, most by any player in school history as well.
Beard Earns Second Consecutive SBC Pitcher of the Week Honor
Junior Farish Beard struck out 28 during the Parents’ Weekend tournament to help lead the Jaguars to a 4-1 record. | Photo usajaguars.com
Farish Beard earned her second consecutive Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week honor for her performance over the past week.
She went 3-0 last weekend in the Florida Atlantic hosted Parents’ Weekend to improve to 12-1 on the season. She struck out 28 batters and only allowed seven hits and two earned runs and two walks in 22 innings pitched. She now holds a team-leading 0.64 ERA.
Against Marshall she retired 19 consecutive batters in the 1-0 Jaguar win.
On the season she has 118 strikeouts and only three earned runs in 69 1/3 innings pitched.
This is her third weekly honor of the season and the fourth honor for a Jaguar as Blair Johnson was named Player of the Week two weeks ago. It also marked that a Jaguar has been honored for either Pitcher of the Week or Player of the Week in four of the five voting periods so far this season.
South Alabama will face Nicholls State on Wednesday at Jaguar Field. This weekend they will be in Stillwater, Oklahoma for the Cowgirl Classic where they will face the University of New Mexico on Saturday and Oklahoma State University twice on Sunday.
Rubit’s Record-Setting 53rd Double-Double Leads Jags Over Texas State
Augustine Rubit broke a tie between him and Terry Catledge by earning his 53rd career double-double as a Jaguar. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Senior Augustine Rubit earned a school-record 53rd double-double of his career to lead the Jaguars to a 63-53 win over Texas State on Thursday night at the Mitchell Center. His double-double broke a tie with Terry Catledge for the most double-doubles in school history.
Rubit scored 14 points and came down with 11 rebounds in the game with four steals, two blocks, and two assists as the Jaguars never trailed in the game.
A strong defensive effort by USA held the Bobcats in check throughout most of the first half by only allowing 10 points through the first 16+ minutes of the game. TSU only made five of their 22 field goal attempts and shot 27.6% in the first half.
Though the Jaguars did not shoot much better with a 33.3% mark in the first half themselves. Rubit and Antoine Allen accounted for 17 of the teams 31 first half points.
Texas State scored the first six points of the second half to draw near but an 8-1 run by USA stretched the lead by out to 13 points about midway through the second half.
Again Texas State made a run by scoring eight unanswered points and 12 of 15 points scored to cut the lead four with just over five minutes remaining. But Allen and Williams both hit buckets to double the lead and would only allow the Bobcats to close to within five points twice over the final 2.5 minutes. Williams finally put the nail in the coffin with a three-pointer with 1:20 left in the game.
Allen was the only other Jaguar to score in double-figures with 13 points to go along with his two steals and two assists.
All nine Jags saw action in the game.
“I’m really proud of the team,” coach Matthew Graves said. “The guys did a tremendous job of coming out and playing hard out of the gate. We talked about this week, everybody is aware that we weren’t playing for the opportunity to go to the conference tournament, which is certainly disappointing, and the players could have easily given up and not played as hard and ridden off into the sunset. But they hung tough and I was really encouraged, especially in the first half, by how hard the guys were playing. They were really sharing the basketball.”
“In the second half we started off very flat and reverted back into some bad habits that have crept in and we were able to regroup in time and force a lot of turnovers. This might have been our season high in turnovers that we forced and I thought overall defensively, except for a few times in the post, this was one of our better efforts on the year.”
South Alabama will conclude their 2013-2014 season at the Mitchell Center on Saturday against Texas-Arlington with tipoff scheduled for 7:05pm on Senior Night. The Lady Jaguars will play beforehand and will honor their Seniors prior to their game as well.
USA will be bidding farewell to two Seniors, Antoine Allen and Augustine Rubit. Come out on Saturday and send those two out on a high note.
USA Women’s Basketball Eliminated From Postseason Play With 64-60 Loss
The Lady Jaguar basketball team will not have the opportunity to play in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament this season after falling to Texas State 64-60 on Wednesday evening.
The Bobcats used a 14-0 run midway through the second half to regain the lead and held onto it the rest of the way. While the Jags held a 30-18 advantage over the Bobcats in points in the paint, they turned the ball over 20 times which led to 20 points for their opponents.
Jennifer Johnson finished the game with 17 points, just one shy of her career high. Breanna Hall added 15 points for her 11th double-digit scoring game in the Jaguars last 13 games.
The Jags how lost their last eight games to fall to 7-20 on the season and 5-12 in Sun Belt play. They will close out the season against Texas-Arlington on Saturday night for Senior night. They will honor four seniors prior to the game: Meghan Dunn, Jennifer Johnson, Olivia Mohler and Ronneka Robertson.
“I’m very disappointed, and our kids are really hurting,” Jaguar head coach Terry Fowler said after the game. “We basically had four opportunities with the two games last week and tonight, and I thought we played well enough for 30-33 minutes to win them. Unfortunately it’s a 40-minute ball game, if we could get the NCAA to somehow give us a 33-minute game our record would be a lot different.”
“We told (the team) in the locker room we know that we’re not going to the conference tournament, but Saturday night is Senior Night, and that’s special night,” Fowler said. “We play for our seniors, so let’s send them out on a high note. I haven’t lost on Senior Night in the last seven years, and the challenge is to play for our seniors. That’s our plan.”
Come out Saturday night to send our Jaguar Seniors out on a high note.