Hartford (0-0)
 vs. 
No. 17 South Alabama (4-1)

Feb. 23-25 • Stanky Field • Mobile, Ala.

Game 1 - Fri., Feb. 23 • 6:30 p.m.
Game 2 - Sat., Feb. 24 • 2 p.m.
Game 3 - Sun., Feb. 25 • noon

Media Information
Live Stream:  Every South Alabama baseball home game is broadcast live and available for free through JagNationTV.com.

On the Radio:  Jaguar baseball games are broadcast live in Mobile on 99.5 FM The Jag, and also available via the iHeartRadio app.

Live Stats:  Live stats for every South Alabama baseball game are available through the multimedia section of USAJaguars.com.

Twitter:  Follow the official Twitter account of South Alabama baseball — @WeAreSouth_BSB — for news and updates.

Probable Starting Pitchers
Fri., Feb. 23
USA - RHP  Tyler Carr (0-0)
Hartford - RHP  Jake Regula (0-0)

Sat., Feb. 24
USA - RHP  Zach Greene (1-0)
Hartford - RHP  Billy DeVito (0-0)

Sun., Feb. 25
USA - LHP  Andy Arguelles (0-0)
Hartford - RHP  Nathan Florence (0-0)

All-Time Series
This weekend's series marks the first-ever meeting between South Alabama and Hartford.

Jag Notes
• South Alabama enters the weekend ranked No. 17 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 18 by D1Baseball, No. 20 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, No. 21 by Baseball America and No. 23 in the USA Today/Coaches poll.

• Former USA All-American Luis Gonzalez played with former Hartford alum Jeff Bagwell for four-and-a-half seasons (1991-95) with the Houston Astros.

• South Alabama enters the weekend ranked fifth nationally in sacrifice flies (4), sixth in walks (34), 10th in hits (51), 14th in runs scored (39) and 23rd in home runs (5). USA leads the Sun Belt Conference in walks and sacrifice flies entering the weekend.

• Right-hander Chase Lambert leads the SBC in saves (2), and is tied for the league lead in ERA (0.00) and appearances (3).

• Center fielder Travis Swaggerty ranks second nationally in walks (9) and fourth in walks per game (1.80). Swaggerty enters the weekend as the SBC leader in walks, ranks tied for second in on-base percentage (.577), tied for third in home runs (2) and runs scored (6), tied for fourth in slugging percentage (.750), and tied for sixth in total bases (12).

• South Alabama carries a three-game home winning streak into the weekend following a pair of wins over Troy to close the 2017 regular season, and a 10-9 win over No. 13 Southern Miss Tuesday at Stanky Field.

GREENE TO MAKE FIRST CAREER START
Jaguar right-hander Zach Greene is scheduled to make his first career start at South Alabama in game two of the series on Saturday. Greene tossed 3 1/3 scoreless relief innings in a season-opening win over Kansas State, and allowed four hits with five strikeouts and three walks to earn his first career win. 

DAVIS AMONG SBC RBI LEADERS
First baseman Wells Davis ranks tied for second in the SBC in RBIs (8) entering the weekend.

RUSSO LEADS LEAGUE IN ABs
Third baseman Paul Russo leads the SBC in at-bats (27), ranks tied for the league lead in total plate appearances (28) and is sixth in hits (8) entering Friday's series opener.

HITTING / ON-BASE STREAKS
Carter Perkins and Travis Swaggerty each carry a team-best three-game hitting streak into the weekend series. Perkins, Swaggerty, Paul Russo, Wells Davis, Dylan Hardy, Michael Sandle and Brendan Donovan have each reached base safely in all five games this season.

DONOVAN AMONG LEAGUE LEADERS
Shortstop Brendan Donovan ranks tied for the league lead in sacrifice flies (2), tied for third in walks (6) and tied for seventh in RBIs (6).

JAGS AT NIGHT/DAY
South Alabama enters the weekend 2-1 in day games and 2-0 in night contests this season.

SWAGGERTY NEARS 150 CAREER HITS
Center fielder Travis Swaggerty needs just one hit to record the 150th of his Jaguar career, entering the series opener.

WINNING WITH WALKS
The Jaguar pitching staff has issued 34 walks and hit eight batters through five games this season, which spans 47 1/3 innings; however, USA is off to a 4-1 start despite having issued eight or more walks in three of the first five contests.

OFFENSIVE RUNS / HITS PER GAME
South Alabama is averaging 10 hits and nearly eight runs scored per game through five contests, but the Jaguars are also averaging nearly 11 strikeouts offensively against 6.8 walks-per-game.

CALVI NAMED AlaBCA COACH OF THE YEAR
Head coach Mark Calvi was named the Alabama Baseball Coaches Association Division I Coach of the Year in 2017, marking the third consecutive year he has earned the honor, after leading the Jaguars to 40 wins and an NCAA Hattiesburg (Miss.) Regional appearance. 

JAG OFFENSE IN 2017
USA broke the program record for walks (373) in a season last year, which ranked second nationally. The Jags ranked sixth in the country in runs scored (488) and on-base percentage (.415), seventh in runs per game (8.0), 11th in fielding percentage (.980), 14th in sacrifice flies (32) and home runs (78), and 15th in slugging percentage (.480).

JAGS SET PROGRAM SINGLE-SEASON FIELDING PERCENTAGE IN '17
South Alabama set a program record for single-season fielding percentage (.980) last year, which led the Sun Belt Conference and ranked 11th nationally.

2017 HOME RUN PRODUCTION
The Jaguars hit 78 home runs in 2017, the most since the 2008 squad hit 79 home runs; however, USA lost 26 percent of its home run production from last season following the departure of Eddie Paparella and Jared Barnes. Paparella homered seven times last year while Barnes, who was an eighth-round selection by the Miami Marlins in the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft, hit 13 as a junior.

JAGS PICKED TO WIN SBC EAST DIVISION
South Alabama was picked to win the 2018 Sun Belt Conference East Division by the league's head coaches after receiving all 12 first-place votes.

SWAGGERTY NAMED TO 2018 PRESEASON GOLDEN SPIKES WATCH LIST
Travis Swaggerty was named to the 2018 USA Baseball Preseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List. Swaggerty was also a preseason first-team All-America selection by Baseball America, D1Baseball, College Sports Madness and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, and was a third-team preseason All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball.


Game Notes