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 Women’s Golf Finish 3rd In Tournament
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
South Alabama’s women’s golf team finished their 12th Annual USA Women’s Invitational Tournament at Azalea City Golf Course with a top three finish.
Elisa Axelsen recorded an even-par 36 on the back nine whiel Carianna Wright carded three birdies to lead the Jaguars in the final round. They both tied for seventh place in the individual standings.
Anna Lesher and Axelsen tied for the team’s low score in the final round by both shooting a 74. Carianna Wright finished the final round with a 75. Ashleigh Ryals recorded a 76 and Ingrid Hagen finished with a 79.
The Jags finished the final round with a 299, the lowest team score of the day to finished third among 15 schools participating. They were four strokes behind tournament champion Memphis and two shots behind second place finisher Jacksonville State.
They will return to the course in two weeks in the Lady Eagle Invitational in Hattiesburg, Mississippi for their third event of the spring season.
USA Baseball Defeats JSU 4-2
The Jaguar Baseball team put three runs across the plate in the bottom of the second inning as they defeated Jacksonville State Tuesday night at Eddie Stanky Field 4-2.
Jared Gates allowed only one run in 5 1/3 innings of work while striking out four with no walks to earn his first career win as a Jaguar. Bandon Haliford threw two shutout innings while striking out three to earn his first career save as a Jaguar.
The three run second inning began with Matt Mojciechowski doubling to right-center to lead off the inning. Then Erik Kindmon followed with a walk before Matt Bolger delivered a two-run triple to left-center in his first at-bat as a Jaguar to put the Jags on the board 2-0. Cameron Cummings followed with an RBI single to score the third and final run of the inning.
Through the first five innings Gates faced the minimum before surrendering a leadoff single to Andre Bishop. That would be followed by an RBI double from Tyler Gamble to cut the Jaguar lead to 3-1 in the top of the sixth inning.
In the top of the seventh inning, JSU’s designated hitter Paschal Petrongolo got on base with a two-out double to center, he was then replaced with pinch runner Ty Pierce. The next batter, Ryan Sebra, hit an RBI double to cut the Jaguar lead to one run, 3-2.
The Jaguars responded in the bottom half of the inning when Drew LaBounty led off the inning with a single to center. He would later score on a one-out RBI single to left field by Bud Collura.
In the top of the eighth inning with James Traylor pitching for the Jags, the Gamecocks threatened with a leadoff double then a walked batter put the tying run on first base with no outs. Hallford entered the game and got three straight outs, two of them being strikeouts.
The Jags improve to 3-4 on the season while JSU falls to 4-3. The Jags can even their season record this afternoon when they meet on the diamond again at 3pm.
USA Football Signs Another Defensive Lineman For 2014 Class
The South Alabama football program announced that they have signed Dondre Chanet to a National Letter-of-Intent on Monday. Chanet will enroll at USA in the fall.
Chanet is a 6’1″, 315-pound defensive lineman from Hutchison (KS) Community College and will join the Jaguars with two seasons of eligibility remaining. He brings the Jaguars 2014 recruiting class up to 22 student-athletes.
Last fall he was a second-team All-Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference selection after recording 33 tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble, one recovered fumble and one pass break up. He recorded a season-best seven tackles, including one for a loss, against nationally ranked Butler (KS) CC.
He also recorded six tackles and a fumble recovery against Independence (KS) CC. He also helped his team defeat Dakota College at Bottineau 57-0 in the Salt Lake City Bowl to end the season ranked 17th in the final National Junior College Athletic Association poll.
He is the third JuCo defensive lineman to sign with South Alabama. They are filling big shoes left when a number of defensivie lineman graduated, some from the first-ever freshman recruiting class to sign with South Alabama.
The Jags finished 6-6 overall and 4-3 in Conference play in their first season as a full FBS member and fifth season of football ever.
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 Loses Heartbreaker To Texas State On Last Second Free Throws In Overtime
The South Alabama men’s basketball team fought hard down the stretch and rallied from a five point deficit with 36.7 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime. But two late free throws gave Texas State the 67-66 win in overtime.
A three-pointer from sophomore Barrington Stevens III tied the game with under 19 seconds left in the game. Stevens had a chance to win the game with a layup but it would not go sending the game to overtime.
In overtime, neither team led by more than two points and the final six points all came from the free throw line. A three-pointer from Augustine Rubit with under 42 seconds left in the game put the Jaguars up 64-63.
Joel Wright sunk two free throws to give the Bobcats a 65-64 advantage. On the Jaguars next possession, Mychal Ammons was fouled and sunk both of his free throw attempts to regain the lead 66-65.
After a Texas State time out, they got the ball into Wright’s hands and a foul was called on Ammons as he was driving the baseline with two seconds left. Wright sunk both of his attempts to give the Bobcats the victory.
“We have good kids in that locker room and they care,” head basketball coach Matthew Graves said after the game. “We just need to understand that you have to play a full 40 minutes, and in this case a full 45, and we just had too many lapses tonight where we didn’t have enough of a sense of urgency from start to finish.”
“Our shot selection late in the first half really hurt us,” Graves continued. “We took three bad shots in a row and didn’t work the basketball. In the second half, we showed some resolve. We were down five with 30 seconds to go and Barrington made a really nice play and scored. In overtime, it went back and forth. We did some nice things and it came down to that last play.”
Rubit finished the game with seven rebounds and 22 points, which puts him in 12th place in Sun Belt History in points scored. Mychal Ammons earned a double-double, his first back-to-back since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, with 15 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with two seconds left in the overtime period.
No other Jaguar scored in double-digits.
Reid Koenen scored 26 points for the Bobcats. Joel Wright added 21 points and eight rebounds. Only four other Bobcats scored points in the game, none scored more than six.
The loss puts USA in a tough position with an 8-18 record overall and a 2-11 record in conference play, they are two games out of the eighth and final spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with five games left to play. They play Texas State again in just under two weeks but first they host Troy on Saturday. Tip off is scheduled for 7:05pm at the Mitchell Center.
USA Men’s Basketball Faces Texas State Tonight
South Alabama and Texas State will face each other for the first time on the hardwood tonight in San Marcos, Texas.
The Jags enter the game after an impressive win over rival Western Kentucky on the road to pick up their first road victory of the season and improving their overall record to 8-17, 2-10 in conference play. The win also kept their hopes alive for a post-season berth in the SBC Conference Tournament in New Orleans.
Texas State is 7-18 overall and 3-9 in conference play and coming off of a 68-41 loss to Sun Belt leading Georgia State. A win in this game would even the Jaguars conference record with the bobcats with five games to go.
The Jags are two games behind Troy for the eighth and final spot in in the Conference Tournament. In the final six games of the season, USA will face Texas State twice and has Troy in Mobile.
The game can be heard on 105.5FM WNSP and their website WNSP.com.
USA Women Drop Fourth Straight Game On Last Second Shot
The Jaguar Women’s basketball team battled back from a 12-point deficit at halftime only to lose 63-61 on a shot at the buzzer that would not fall.
Meghan Dunn led all scorers with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and a perfect 5-for-5 at the free throw line. This was her eighth straight double-digit scoring game and her 17th of the season. She scored 13 of her 18 in the final 20 minutes of the game.
Johnson added 12 points off the bench with a game-high eight rebounds as she went 5-of-10 from the field and 2-of-2 from outside the arc. She also added three blocks which was just one shy of tying her career high.
Ronneka Robertson was also in double figures with 10 points.
Texas State improved to 12-12 overall, 9-4 in Conference play. This was their sixth win in their last seven games.
The Jags fall to 7-16 overall and 5-8 in Conference play as they have lost their fourth consecutive game. They will return to action on Saturday night at the Mitchell Center against Troy in their “Pink Zone” game. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:05pm.