Games 43-45: at Louisiana-Monroe Game Notes.pdf

GAMES: 43-45 | AT LOUISIANA-MONROE
April 22-23, 2017 | Monroe, La. | Geo-Surfaces Field | 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 12 p.m.

-- / -- South Alabama (25-17, 7-12 SBC)
JAGUARS
Batting Avg.: .274
Runs: 154
Runs Per Game: 3.7
Hits: 295
Home Runs: 18
Stolen Bases: 32
ERA: 2.35
Strikeouts: 238

-- / --  Louisiana-Monroe (28-18 10-8 SBC)
WARHAWKS
Batting Avg.: .253
Runs: 178
Runs Per Game: 3.9
Hits: 303
Home Runs: 16
Stolen Bases: 80
ERA: 3.56
Strikeouts:    203

GAME DAY INFORMATION
Television: None
Radio: None
Live Stats: www.USAJaguars.com
Live Stream: www.ULMWarhawks.com
Twitter: @USAJagsSoftball

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS    
– South Alabama (25-17, 7-12 SBC) enters the series versus the Warhawks sitting in eighth-place in the league standings.
– Last weekend, the Jags dropped the first two games of their series at Texas-Arlington; a pair of one-run walk-off decisions, but bounced back to pick up a 5-0 win in Sunday's finale.
– Destin Vicknair allowed just one hit and used just 87 pitches as she recorded her 13th complete game and fourth shutout of the season.
– Kristian Foster led the Jags at the plate as she was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI and Dayla Gulledge delivered a pinch-hit three-run home run in the sixth inning.
– Foster now has 30 runs driven this season – second-most on the club – and over her last 13 games, the Pelham, Ala., native has recorded at least one RBI in 10 of those contests and 16 total.
– The three-hit game marked the 12th multi-hit game of the season for Foster and 22nd of her career for Foster, while the two RBI performance was her 10th multi-RBI game of the spring and 20th as a Jaguar.  She leads the team in multi-RBI games.
– The Jaguars currently have four players batting over .300 in their lineup – Kaleigh Todd (.377), MC Nichols (.350), Kristian Foster (.339) and Megan Harris (.301).
– Todd continues to rank among the conference leaders in hits (52, fourth), triples (3, tied-third), stolen bases (16, third), runs scored (36, sixth) and batting average (seventh).
– Over her last 25 games, Todd has had a hit in all but four of those and had multi-hits 10 times.  The junior second baseman has a team-best 17 multi-hit outings this spring.
– Senior outfielder Amanda Minahan paces the team in home runs (8) and RBI (33).  She is eighth in the Sun Belt in runs driven in, tied for 10th in home runs and tied for eighth in total bases (69).  
– Minahan hit her 25th career home run over the weekend against UTA, which is tied with former Jag Brittany Fowler (2010-13) for third place on the program's all-time list.  Minahan is just three away from the all-time mark of 28 set by Christin Crocker (2009-12) and Kaitlyn Griffith (2012-15).
– Coming into the weekend, Minahan sits tied with Griffith for fourth-place on South Alabama's career RBI list with 111.  She is four back of Crocker who is in third and 25 back of Brittany Fowler's all-time mark of 136.
– Devin Brown (13-6) has missed each of the last two SBC series due to illness and her status for the ULM series is still to be determined, but prior to that she had recorded four-straight complete-games.
– The junior right-hander is second in the conference in both earned run average (1.85) and opposing batting average (.189), while also ranking among the conference leaders in several other categories – strikeouts (150, third), strikeouts looking (36, fifth), hits allowed (88, fourth), runs allowed (35, second) and earned runs allowed (34, fourth), among other categories.
– Brown also ranks among the NCAA leaders in shutouts (9, third), strikeouts (33rd), hits allowed (49th), strikeouts per 7 innings (8.2, 38th) and ERA (83rd).
– Vicknair has been solid in the circle this season as she holds a 11-9 record and a 2.28 ERA.  She ranks in the Top 10 of the league in several different pitching categories coming into play this weekend.

SCOUTING THE WARHAWKS    
– Louisiana-Monroe (28-18, 10-8 SBC) comes into the weekend series sitting in fifth place in the Sun Belt standings; a game back of Georgia Southern.
– After picking up the first two games of last weekend's series at Troy, ULM dropped the finale (12-2) and have since lost at Southeastern Louisiana (11-3) on Tuesday night and at No. 24 Arkansas (9-3) on Wednesday night.
– The Warhawks lead the conference in fielding percentage (.972) and stolen bases (80), while ranking second in hit by pitch (55) and third in doubles (52).  ULM is 32nd nationally in fielding percentage and stolen bases per game (1.74).
– Louisiana-Monroe's 80 stolen bases this spring are 34 more than Texas-Arlington and Coastal Carolina who are tied for second in the league.
– Sydney McKay leads the club at the plate.  She currently leads the Sun Belt in stolen bases with 33, while her 58 hits are second-most and her .382 batting average is fifth-best.
– The sophomore outfielder ranks 18th in the NCAA in stolen bases and 25th in hits.
– Freshman infielder Jayden Mount has been solid in her first collegiate season.  Mount has been hit by pitch 13 times this spring – second-most in the league, while her on-base percentage (.500) is tied for third and her batting average (.372) ranks eighth.
– Senior pitcher/designated player Melanie Coyne (16-10) has been strong both offensively and in the circle for the Warhawks.
– Coyne (.296) ranks second in the Sun Belt in doubles with 12, but she is among the league leaders in six other pitching categories.  The right-hander is first in the SBC in innings pitched (178.1) and leads the conference in opponent's batting average, holding them to a .188 clip.
– Coyne also ranks in the Top 5 in wins (16, third), earned run average (1.96, third), strikeouts looking (38, fourth) and strikeouts (110, fifth).  Coyne's 10 shutouts this spring are third-most in the NCAA.
– ULM has given up 95 extra-base hits this season; 59 doubles, 16 triples and 20 home runs.  The 59 doubles and 16 triples are the most allowed by a staff in the Sun Belt.

THE SERIES    
– South Alabama and Louisiana-Monroe have met 34 previous times with the Jaguars holding a 28-6 advantage in the all-time series.  
– USA has won six-straight and 18 of the last 19 meetings with ULM's lone win during that stretch coming on an 8-0 five-inning win in Monroe during the 2015 season.
– The Jags also hold a 14-3 advantage in the series in games played on the Warhawks' home field.
– Last season, South defeated ULM 8-0 in five innings twice and 7-4 in the second game of the three-game regular-season series at Jaguar Field.  The Jags also earned a 5-3 victory over the Warhawks in an elimination game in the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Mobile.

LAST TIME THEY MET    
– South Alabama softball stifled a Louisiana-Monroe rally midway through an elimination game to pick up a 5-3 win and stay alive in the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Jaguar Field.
– Destin Vicknair picked up the win over ULM after striking out five Warhawk batters against two walks and allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits in five innings.  Devin Brown collected her third save of the season after tossing two shutout innings to close the contest, striking out three to a walk and allowing only one hit.
– Kaleigh Todd led USA at the plate on 3-for-3 hitting, while Amanda Minahan and Kristian Foster each went 1-for-2 with two RBI.
– A four-run first inning gave the Jaguars momentum to begin their second game of the day.  Emily Messer reached on a Warhawk fielding error to start the contest and moved to second on Todd's sacrifice bunt.  Stephanie Pilkington and Haleigh Lane then drew walks to load the bags for Minahan, who sent a double to left field to plate Pilkington and Messer for a 2-0 Jaguar lead.
– In the second, Foster singled to left to score Minahan and Lane, as USA doubled its lead to 4-0.
– South Alabama tacked on a fifth run in the top of the fourth on Pilkington's sacrifice fly to center field, which allowed Megan Harris, who reached on a second ULM error, to score to make it 5-0.
– ULM answered with a run in the fourth on a double steal.  Amye Barre led off with a double to left center, and Cheyanne Lyon reached on a Jaguar fielding error to put runners on the corners.  As Lyon stole second, Barre swiped home to put the Warhawks on the board.
– The Warhawks scratched two more across an inning later to cut the Jag lead to two runs.  Samantha Agamaite drew a lead off walk, and Sidney Coy singled before Sydney McKay's sacrifice bunt put a pair in scoring position.  Vanessa Garcia then sent ULM's fourth hit through the left side to plate both runners.
– Brown entered the circle in the bottom of the sixth and retired five of the eight batters she faced, three by strikeout.

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