Game 32: vs Troy Game Notes.pdf

GAME: 32 | VS. TROY
March 29, 2017 | Mobile, Ala. | Jaguar Field | 6 p.m.

Game Day Information
Television: None
Radio: 99.5 The Jag FM
    Talent: J.T. Crabtree
Live Stats: www.USAJaguars.com
Live Stream: www.USAJaguars.com
Twitter: @USAJagsSoftball

Ticket Information: Reserved seat tickets can be purchased for $8, while general admission seating is available for $5.  

-- / -- South Alabama (19-12, 2-7 SBC)
JAGUARS
Batting Avg.: .276
Runs: 113
Runs Per Game: 3.7
Hits: 214
Home Runs: 13
Stolen Bases: 23
ERA: 2.29
Strikeouts: 187

-- / --  Troy (15-19, 3-6 SBC)
TROJANS
Batting Avg.: .260
Runs: 152
Runs Per Game: 4.5
Hits: 234
Home Runs: 25
Stolen Bases: 34
ERA: 3.61
Strikeouts: 84

Series History vs. Troy
All-Time: USA, 19-10
In Mobile: USA, 10-5
Last Meeting: W, 7-0 – 5/8/16
Streak: W5

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS    
– South Alabama (19-12, 2-7 SBC) enters Tuesday night's battle versus its in-state conference rival looking to snap a four-game skid.  
– USA dropped a three-game league series at home to No. 17 Louisiana-Lafayette over the weekend, falling 8-3, 4-2 and 9-4 to the Ragin' Cajuns.
– In Sunday's finale, the Jaguars cut the deficit to one (5-4) in the fifth inning, before allowing four runs over the final two.
– MC Nichols and Kaleigh Todd have provided a spark at the top of the order for South as they both have around a .450 on-base percentage or better.  
– Nichols ranks second in the Sun Belt in batting average coming in at a .417 clip.  The redshirt outfielder has 30 hits and 10 multi-hit games this season.
– Todd is hitting just below .400, but her .396 batting average is fourth-best in the league.  
– The Bessemer, Ala., native also ranks among the conference leaders in hits (38, third), triples (2, tied-third), stolen bases (14, third), runs scored (26, tied-sixth) and on-base percentage (ninth).
– Todd has reached base safely in 10 consecutive games – second-best streak this season by a Jag – coming into Tuesday night's game. Nichols reached base safely in 12-straight games earlier this season.
– Todd also has a team-high 13 multi-hit games this season and has at least one hit in eight of her last 10 outings.
– Amanda Minahan (.267) has a team-best 13 extra-base hits this spring.  Her six home runs this season are tied for eighth in the SBC, while her 50 total bases are tied for 10th.
– Minahan currently ranks fifth at South in career home runs with 23.  She is one shy of moving into fourth and five away from the all-time mark of 28 set by former Jag Christin Crocker (2009-12).
– The senior outfielder is also tied for seventh in the league in RBI with 23.  
– Minahan leads the club with six doubles, while Haleigh Lane and Savanna Mayo are right behind her in that category with five each.
– Junior right-hander Devin Brown (9-6) leads the club in the circle with a 1.92 ERA.  In her 15 starts, she has recorded 11 complete games and seven shutouts – which ranks fourth in the NCAA.
– Brown has 121 strikeouts this season – second-most in the SBC – in her 102.1 innings of work.  Brown is also holding opponents to a .186 batting average.
– Senior Destin Vicknair also has nine wins this season to go along with seven complete games and three total shutouts.  
– Over her last four outings, she has allowed just five earned runs in her 20.1 innings of work.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS    
– Troy (15-19, 3-6 SBC) comes into the midweek single game after being swept this past weekend at Coastal Carolina (3-4, 2-3, 5-6).
– Like the Jaguars, the Trojans have dropped their last four decisions - all by one run.  In fact, seven of their last eight losses have been decided by a run.
– Entering play this week, Troy is ranked second in the conference in doubles (44), one behind Appalachian State.  The Trojans are also third in the league in runs scored (152) and total bases (359), while sitting tied for fourth in hits (234) and RBI (129).
– Last month, the Trojans picked up a 7-5 walk-off win over then 19th-ranked Pittsburgh on Becca Hartley's two-run eighth-inning home run.
– Hartley's 12 home runs this season are second-most in the Sun Belt and fifth-most in the NCAA this spring.  Hartley is also seventh nationally in total bases with 81 and 47th in slugging percentage.
– She has 35 for her career, which ranks fourth at Troy, and are three shy of third.
– The senior also ranks among the Top 10 of the league in total bases (second), runs scored (32, second), slugging percentage (.764, third), stolen bases (13, fourth), hits (fourth, 36), walks (21, fifth) and on-base percentage (.470, eighth).
– Of the Trojans 44 doubles this season, Hartley, Stephanie Snyder and Erica Davis lead the team with seven each.
– Snyder (.319) is also tied with Hartley in hits with 36, while she has three home runs and 18 RBI.  Snyder is eighth in the SBC in total bases with 52.
– A total of seven Trojans have driven in 10 or more runs this season.
– Davis is 10-for-11 in the stolen base category this season and Troy is 34-of-43 as at team.
– Madeline Porter has also done a good job of getting on base as she has 24 hits, 12 walks and has been hit by a pitch 12 times.  She is 23rd nationally and leads the conference in hit by pitch per game.
– One area the Trojans have struggled a bit in has been in the circle.  As a staff, Troy has a 3.61 earned run average and has allowed 146 runs.
– Among the regular starters, Claire Graves (7-3) holds a 3.08 ERA.  In her 14 starts, Graves has recorded a team-best six complete games and has recorded Troy's only two shutouts this season.

THE SERIES    
– South Alabama and Troy have met 29 previous times with the Jaguars holding a 19-10 advantage in the all-time series.  
– South holds a 10-5 advantage in the series at home and a 9-5 lead in games played in Troy.
– The Jaguars have won five-straight in the series and 13 of the last 15 dating back to the final game of the series in 2011 coming into this season.
– Last season, South Alabama swept the three-game series during the regular season winning 6-2, 4-3 and 7-0 during the final regular weekend in Mobile.
– The Jaguars and the Trojans are also scheduled to close out the regular season with a doubleheader on May 7.

LAST TIME THEY MET    
– South Alabama completed a three-game Sun Belt Conference sweep of Troy on Senior Day at Jaguar Field with a 7-0 victory over the Trojans to close out the 2016 regular season.
– USA took a 3-0 lead in the third, before freshman left fielder Haleigh Lane supplied a grand slam for the final winning margin.  The home run was the first of Lane's career.
– Senior third baseman Emily Messer went 3-for-4 on Sunday with an RBI and a run scored, setting a new South Alabama single-season record in hits with her 72nd to lead off the bottom of the sixth.
– Jag right-hander Devin Brown surpassed the 300-strikeout mark in the win and recorded her 11th shutout
Brown also didn't allow a walk and struck out 12, while also giving up just two hits.  It was her 19th double-digit strikeout performance of the spring.
– USA took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on Messer's two-out, RBI single, which scored Kristian Foster, who drew a one-out walk.
– The Jaguars added two more to go up, 3-0, on four consecutive base hits an inning later.  Dayla Gulledge led off with a return up the middle too hot for Troy pitcher Rachel Rigney to handle, before Lane's bunt single.
– Amanda Minahan drove a base hit to right field to load the bags, and Foster singled to left to score Gulledge, doubling USA's lead.  Megan Harris then dropped one into right center to plate Lane for a three-run Jaguar lead.

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