USA vs. SELU box score

MOBILE, Ala. – Big bats and 10 strikeouts by freshman pitcher Farish Beard led to the University of South Alabama’s 16-1 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in five innings Wednesday night at Jaguar Field.

“It was great to be back on our home field,” said USA head coach Becky Clark. “It’s been a long stretch, but I think that’s good for us. We’ve had to play some really tough games on the road, and we’ve had to be the visitor in almost every game in these tournaments. It’s been good for us, but it’s definitely nice to be here in front of our home crowd.”

With the win the Jaguars advance to 11-6 on the year, while the Lady Lions fall to 3-19.

In her first collegiate start, Beard (1-0) struggled with control early - walking three batters in the first inning - but eventually settled in, allowing only four base-runners until SELU’s Megan McCollum led off the final inning with a solo homer to left field. Beard tallied 10 strikeouts while giving up one hit and one run in 4.1 innings of work.

“Farish had some butterflies in her first college start, but she was able to settle down and work her way out of it,” Clark said. “Anytime you can get out of that situation, it takes the pressure off your offense which is big. She did a good job of just settling down.”  

Freshman Kaleigh Floore also recorded her first college appearance and threw to the final two batters of the game as the Lady Lions grounded out to Floore followed by a line drive snagged by substitute second baseman sophomore Julie Moss.

Southeastern Louisiana starter Jessie Browne (1-8) took the loss after giving up five hits and six runs in the first inning. SELU’s Vicki Honeycutt tossed 2.1 innings of relief allowing seven hits and eight runs. Kati Morse finished the game for the Lady Lions letting the Jags add on another two runs and three hits in the last two-thirds of the fourth inning.

The Jags plated one in the first, five in the second, four in the third and six in the fourth off of 15 hits to secure the win. Junior Britany Campbell broke the school record for runs batted in with six on the game, and went 2-for-3 at the plate scoring three runs.

Including Campbell, USA had ten players tally hits in the contest: seniors Haley Hopkins (1), Katy Neal (1) and Christin Crocker (1), junior Brittany Fowler (2), sophomores Haley Richards (1) and Moss (1) and freshmen Alyssa Linn (2), Blair Johnson (3) and Alex Breeden (1).

“They did a great job at the plate,” said Clark. “We’ve got some things that we still need to work on here and there, but, overall, you can’t really complain when you put up 15 hits in five innings. They did a great job of staying balanced at the plate, waiting for something they could drive, and then, when they got that pitch, they put a good swing on it.”

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Fowler hit her third home run of the season to get the Jags going 1-0.  Fowler would tack on a second homer on the night in the bottom of the third to give South Alabama the 10-0 lead. Overall, Fowler had two runs off of two hits in three at-bats.

South Alabama will open conference play this weekend when they host Louisiana-Monroe in a three-game series Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and Sunday at noon at Jaguar Field.

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