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.
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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.
Keyser Voted SBC Coach Of The Year
Keyser was named the SBC Coach of the Year after leading the Jaguars to a 21-2 record. In 13 seasons he is 189-100 and the winningest coach in program history. | Photo Credit: usajaguars.com
South Alabama women’s tennis head coach Jaco Keyser was voted the league’s coach of the year on Monday after leading the Jaguars to their first Conference title since 2003.
Keyser led the team to a 21-2 record, currently the best winning percentage in school history, after starting the season with an 18-match win streak to begin the season, which is also a school-record tying number.
USA shut out 10 opponents this season including five in a row near the end of the regular season. They also went 6-0 against SBC competition. They also defeated #47 Tulane 4-0 for the program’s first win over a ranked opponent since 2009.
Keyser’s 189-100 record in 13 seasons makes him the all-time winningest coach in school history.
South Alabama Sports Weekend Update – Softball Series Cancelled, Women’s Tennis Win Championship
Here is the weekend roundup of South Alabama Sports, despite the weather wreaking havoc with several sports in the Gulf Coast Area.
Women’s Tennis
Junior Michaela Meszarosova was able to pull out a marathon three-set match to give her team a 4-3 win over Texas-Arlington and its first Sun Belt Conference title since 2003. It is their 17th title overall, the most in conference history, and will receive the SBC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a 21-2 overall record.
Men’s Tennis
The Men’s team did not fare as well as the women. After making their way into the SBC Finals and facing top-seed Troy, the Jags fell 4-1 to the Trojans.
The Jags fall to 16-9 on the season as they are ranked 69th in the nation. Troy improves their record to 25-6 as they are ranked 60th in the nation.
USA started off strong as Daniel Leitner and Gerhard Gruindelingh took the first doubles match 8-5, but that would be the only match the team won as Troy would win the next four.
Softball
The #22 ranked Jaguar softball team was supposed to host Texas State for their final conference home series of the regular season, however the rescheduled doubleheader for Sunday was cancelled due to field conditions which were made unplayable by heavy rains in the area throughout the week.
No make up date will be scheduled.
The Jaguars will travel to Hattiesburg, MS on Wednesday to face Southern Miss. They defeated the Eagles 9-1 in six innings in Mobile on March 18.
Men’s Golf
The opening day of the Sun Belt Conference Championships were called off on Sunday due to course conditions at the Sandestin Golf Resort Raven Course.
Weather permitting, the tournament will begin monday morning at 7:30am and will consist of 36 holes. The final round would still be played on Tuesday.
Baseball
The Jags traveled to Evansville, Indiana to face the Evansville University over the weekend.
In game one on Friday, it was Ben Gann’s grand slam in the third inning that led the Jaguars to a 7-3 win.
EU took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a two-out two-run home run.
The Jags answered with four runs in the top of the third on the Grand Slam. But Evansville would cut the lead to one run in the bottom of the fourth inning on a two-out RBI single to center field.
In the top of the fifth, USA answered with a run to regain their two run lead. They would add two more insurance runs before the end of the game.
Kevin Hill (6-0) allowed three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts against three walks for his sixth consecutive win.
Evansville then swept a Saturday doubleheader to take the series from the Jags. They won the first game 6-5 then took the series with a 9-5 win in the finale.
USA will host Jacksonville State to a two-game series this week with the first game on Tuesday night starting at 6pm and the second game on Wednesday slated to start at 3pm.
South Alabama Sports Weekend Preview
South Alabama teams will be competing in several sports this weekend, some trying to win Conference titles while others are trying to position themselves to make a run at their Conference tournaments. Below is a rundown of the weekend events.
Softball
The #22 Softball team will host their final Sun Belt Conference series at home this weekend when Texas State comes to town.
The Jags roll into the weekend after going to Starkville to defeat Mississippi State 3-2 on Tuesday night and having won their last 11 games.
The Jags (32-7, 14-3 SBC) currently sits in second place in the conference behind Louisiana-Lafayette (32-5, 15-3 SBC). Texas State is in third place in the conference behind the Jaguars with a 25-19 record overall and an 8-6 record in conference play and enter the weekend with a three-game win streak.
The Jags and Bobcats are scheduled to begin with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1pm at Jaguar Field and the Sunday finale is scheduled for 1pm at Jaguar Field as well.
Baseball
The Jaguar baseball team steps out of conference play this weekend to face Evansville in a three game series in Evansville, Indiana.
USA (24-13) will start right-hander Kevin Hill (5-0) for his seventh start of the year in the season opener. He has won his last five starts. Austin Bembnowski (2-3) will start his sixth game of the season on Saturday. Southpaw Jared Gates (3-1) will start the series finale set for Sunday.
Evansville (18-15) defeated Indiana 2-1 in 14 innings on Wednesday.
Men’s and Women’s Tennis
Both the men and women will be competing for Sun Belt Conference Titles this weekend. The Women’s squad is the #1 seed and will began action at 8am on Friday morning. The Men’s team is the #3 seed and will begin play on Friday afternoon against Appalachian State.
Men’s and Women’s Track and Field
The Track and Field team will return to action at the War Eagle Invitational. This will be their second trip to Auburn this spring. A total of 12 teams will be competing including Auburn, Mississippi State, Troy and Kent State.
Jaguar Men’s and Women’s Tennis Honored At SBC Banquet
At the Sun Belt Conference annual Awards Banquet a number of Jaguar student-athletes were honored for their performance in Men’s and Women’s Tennis.
Men’s
Senior Daniel Leitner was named the 2015 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Year for the second-consecutive year and also named to the All-Conference team. Juniors Tim Srkala and Gerhard Gruindelingh and Sophomore Tuki Jacobs were all named to the All-Conference team as well.
Leitner and Srkala were voted to the first-team in singles, Jacobs was voted to the second-team in singles. Leitner and Gruindelingh were anmed to the first-team in doubles.
The Jags, ranked #69, enters the weekend with a three-match winning streak and a 14-8 mark in their spring contests. They finished out the regular season last week and will begin play in the Sun Belt Conference Championships this weekend.
The #3 seeded Jaguars will open against Appalachian State on Friday at 3PM for the first meeting between the two schools.
Women’s
In Women’s Tennis, senior Emily Newton and sophomore Laura Valkova were named to the All-Sun Belt Conference Women’s Tennis teams in both singles and doubles play. Sophomore Monica Mitta was also named to the All-Conference team. The trio of Jaguars led South Alabama to an 18-2 regular-season record and the #1 seed in the Sun Belt Championships.
Newton was named to the doubles first team with Valkova and the singles second team and earning all-conference honors for the third consecutive season to become the first Jag to accomplish that since Michaela Babicova in 2009.
Valkova earns all-conference honors in singles and doubles for the second-consecutive season, earning a spot on the first-team in both singles and doubles.
The team of Newton and Valkova have yet to suffer a defeat in 11 matches at #1 doubles this season and have won their last 12 matches together dating back to the fall.
The USA Women’s team will face Texas State on Friday at 8AM in the first round of the SBC Championships.
Women’s Golf Complete Final Round of SBC Championship
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
The Women’s golf team turned in a final-round score of 311 at the Sun Belt Conference Championship at Steelwood Country Club in Loxley, AL on Wednesday. Due to inclement weather, only two rounds of the tournament were able to be completed as the Jags concluded with a two-round event with a total score of 617 (306-311).
“The weather finally cooperated, and I thought the girls gave it a really good effort,” South Alabama head coach TJ Jackson said. “All year we’ve been working on getting mentally tough, and they showed that today even though the score doesn’t reflect it. I saw a lot of improvement in that area. Ingrid had a really rough front nine, but came back with four birdies on the back nine, that was indicative of the whole team and their effort. I was pleased with that part of it, but we’d like the scores to be lower obviously.”
Ingrid Hagen, who led the team in the first round, posted a 78 in the second round to finish the tournament tied for 15th out of 40 participants with a total score of 153.
Caroline Beebe (76-78) and Carianne Wright (77-78) each shot 6-over par 78’s with total scores of 154 and 155 respectively. Beebe tied for 18th place overall while Wright and freshman Madison Connell (78-77) shot a two-round score of 155 after a 5-over par 77 in the second round to finish tied for 21st. Fellow freshman Kaeli Jones (79-80) posted a two-round total of 159 and finished 31st overall.
Troy won the tournament with a team score of 593 (301-292) while Arkansas-Little Rock’s Stina Resen (72-70) won medalist honors with a two-under par total of 142.
Hagen, the Jags lone senior, completed her final event for the Jaguars and was quoted after the round. “I started off a little rough with a lot of bogeys, but I made the turn determined to finish strong,” she explained. “I made up my mind to go low and everything rolled in from there.
“I hit some iron shots that came in close. I made a birdie on No. 2, and I chipped in on the next par three, which was a clutch up-and-down there. I had some putts that finally rolled in that didn’t fall on the front nine.”
“Ingrid is a senior and she knows what to do,” Jackson commented. “She didn’t get down on herself, she played that ‘one-shot-at-a-time’ cliché that we’re always talking about and made some birdies coming in. That’s what it’s all about, and I think the team as a whole did that well this week.
“We made some strides in the mental game, and that’s what we were wanting to do,” Jackson said. “These girls are very talented — they can hit any shot out there — but it’s how we’re thinking around that golf course that makes the difference. I feel we’ve made strides there, so going into next year I’m really excited. We’ve got some young players who can play, I’m ready for next year already.”
The final team results:
1. Troy +17
2. Texas State +29
3. Arkansas-Little Rock +31
4. Appalachian State +36
5. Georgia State +40
6. South Alabama +41
7. Arkansas State +44
8. Louisiana Monroe +47
Jags One of Only Two Schools To Complete First Round of SBC Women’s Golf Championship
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
South Alabama was able to complete their first round of play in the Sun Belt Conference Championship at Steelwood Country Club, they are one of only two schools who started on Monday and completed their first round on Tuesday due to multiple stoppages because of inclement weather.
Senior Ingrid Hagen led the the Jags with a 3-over par 75. She opened the round with a birdie at the par-five 10th but moved back to even-par after a bogey at the par-four 15th. She would then birdie the par-four 16th to move back under par. However a double-bogey on the par-five 18th would put her at 1-over par, but a birdie at the par-four 1st would again put her at even-par on the round.
Consecutive bogey’s on holes 5 and 6 put her at 2-over par and she would close the round by playing the final four holes at 1-over par.
Caroline Beebe posted a 4-over par 76 after playing the front nine at even par, including pars on seven of her final eight holes.
Carianne Wright posted a 5-over par 77 while Madison Connell carded a 6-over par round and Kaeli Jones added a 7-over par.
The Jags completed the round with a team score of 18-over par score of 306. Louisiana-Monroe was the only other school to finish their first round of play on Tuesday with a 21-over par score of 309. Again inclement weather halted the continuation of round one for the rest of the field as well as round two for USA and ULM.
Officials have yet to determine when the tournament will continue on Wednesday. Visit GolfStat.com for living scoring when the tournament continues as well as full coverage on SunBeltSports.org.
Jaguar Women’s Golfer Carianne Wright Earned All-SBC Honors
Wright, a sophomore, became the third-consecutive Jaguar to earn All-Sun Belt Conference honors after her second-team selection. | Photo credit: usajaguars.com
South Alabama Sophomore Carianne Wright was named to the Second-Team All-Sun Belt Conference for Women’s Golf the league office announced on Monday.
Wright’s selection marks the third consecutive year that a Jaguar student-athlete has earned all-conference honors. Ashleigh Ryals (2014) and Kristen Golightly (2013) earned the honor over the previous two seasons.
Wright ranks 13th in the conference, and second among sophomores in the conference, with a 77.21 stroke average entering the SBC Championship at Steelwood Country Club in Loxley, Alabama.
She has two top-10 finishes and earned a spot in the top-20 in two additional tournaments this year. She posted a career low 1-under par 71 twice this season and posted her lowest three-round total of the season at the MSU Ocala Spring Invitational with a 7-over-par 223.
Inclement weather that caused poor conditions halted the first round of the SBC Women’s Golf Championship. The start of the tournament was delayed until 11am on Monday due to several inches of water on the course during the night. After heavy rains passed through the area Monday, it forced officials to suspend the first round.
South Alabama will resume round one at 5-over par and only three shots back of Arkansas-Little Rock according to the scoring posted at GolfStat.com
USA’s lineup of Ingrid Hagen, Kaeli Jones, Carianne Wright, Madison Connell and Caroline Beebe will return to complete the first round on Tuesday though the time has not yet been determined.
#22 Jags Softball Sweep Georgia Southern; Baseball Wins 4th Straight SBC Series
Softball
The #22 ranked Jaguar softball team completed another weekend sweep of a Sun Belt Conference opponent.
In Saturday’s doubleheader against Georgia Southern, the Jaguars won the two games by a combined scored of 18-0 and the entire weekend series by a combined score of 25-2 after a rain-shortened game on Sunday.
USA scored all their runs in the first game in two innings against Georgia Southern. In the third inning the Jaguars let loose with four runs, then in the sixth they added three more runs.
Emily Messer led off the bottom of the third inning with a single to third base and advanced to second after the throw first sailed wide. Kristian Foster doubled to right field to put two Jaguars in scoring position. Stephanie Pilkington took advantage by lifting a sacrifice fly to left field to plate the Jaguars first run. Kaitlyn Griffith also hit a sac fly to center, which doubled the Jaguar lead.
Chloe Rathburn had a base hit to set up sophomore center fielder Amanda Minahan to double the lead with her fourth home run of the season.
In the bottom of the sixth, Blair Johnson hit a one-out solo home run to right field to put the Jags up 5-0. Alyssa Linn got on with a single anf followed by Messer’s double which set up Foster to drive in both runners with a single down the right fielder line for the 7-0 advantage.
Kalen McGill (13-1) earned her second complete-game victory as she struck out two and scattered five hits with no walks.
Messer went 3-for-4 with two runs scored to lead the Jags. Foster went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Minahan finished with two RBI and a run scored.
In game two the Jags scored 11 runs in the first three innings, five runs each in the first and third innings for their seventh run-rule victory of the season. Farish Beard also threw her third career no-hitter and the 12th in program history.
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