Box score

MONROE, La.  – The University of South Alabama baseball team clinched its second consecutive Sun Belt Conference series with an 11-3 win over Louisiana at Monroe Saturday at Warhawk Field.

South Alabama (8-14, 4-1 SBC) scored 11 runs on 13 hits, and used another quality start by Anthony Izzio to capture its third consecutive SBC contest.

Izzio (4-0) retired the first 10 batters he faced in the game, and allowed five hits and three runs with six strikeouts and three walks in 6 1/3 innings pitched.

Kyle Bartsch tossed 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, and allowed just two hits while striking out four.

“Anthony Izzio did a great job tonight,” USA head coach Mark Calvi said. “Job number one for him was to go out there and put up a zero in the first inning. He made his pitches and kept the game moving along. It was a quick first inning, and he got us back on offense and that was a good thing. The faster we got back in the dugout after the first (inning), the better off we were going to be.”

Eight of the nine Jaguar starters recorded hits in the game and four Jags had multiple hits, led by Jordan Patterson who went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run, three RBI and two runs scored. Nick Zaharion finished 2-for-5 with a homer, three RBI and two runs scored, and Brad Hook and Hunt Griffith each went 2-for-4 with one run scored. Dustin Dalken hit his second home run of the season, and drove in three runs and scored one run.

South Alabama put together a two-out rally in the top of the third, an inning in which it took a 4-0 lead, when Brent Mitchell drew a two-out walk and scored on an RBI double to left field by Patterson. Later in the inning, Zaharion homered over the left-field wall to increase the USA lead to 4-0.

“If (Brent) Mitchell gives his at-bat away, (Nick) Zaharion never gets up to hit that three-run home run so Mitchell started that,” Calvi said. “He seems to find his way on base a lot. He is a leader and an older guy who has been through the Sun Belt wars – he gets it. And we’re reaping the benefits of some experience there.”

The Jags added two more runs in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Nolan Earley and two-out RBI single down the left-field line by Mitchell for a 6-0 lead.

Taylor Abdalla cut the USA lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run homer to right-center field. ULM (13-10, 1-4 SBC) cut the Jaguar lead in half later in the inning on an RBI double by Jeremy Sy.

USA took a 9-3 lead in the top of the seventh on a three-run homer to left field by Dalken, and added two additional runs in the top of the eighth when Patterson delivered a two-run shot over the right-field wall for the game’s final runs.

Sy went 2-for-5 with a double and one RBI to lead ULM at the plate.

Warhawk right-hander Cale Wine (4-2) took the loss in six innings, allowing eight runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts and three walks.

South Alabama will be in search of its first series sweep of the season in Sunday’s 1 p.m. series finale.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).