Games 47-49: vs. Georgia Southern Game Notes.pdf

GAMES: 47-49 | VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN
April 29-30, 2017 | Mobile, Ala. | Jaguar Field | 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 12 p.m.

GAME DAY INFORMATION
Television: None
Radio: 99.5 The Jag FM (Games 1 and 2)
    Talent: JT 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.

GAME DAY PROMOTIONS
SATURDAY
- Beach towel give away to the first 100 fans when the gates to Jaguar Field open at noon.
- Naming of hitting facility prior to Game 1 of the doubleheader.
- Jaguar softball bingo.
- Kids running the bases in between Games 1 and 2.

SUNDAY
- Senior Day presentation and graduation ceremony prior to series finale.
- Family Sunday
- Post-game autograph session with the Jaguar players.

-- / -- South Alabama (28-18, 10-12 SBC)
JAGUARS
Batting Avg.: .272
Runs: 171
Runs Per Game: 3.7
Hits: 324
Home Runs: 25
Stolen Bases: 34
ERA: 2.44
Strikeouts: 255

-- / --  Georgia Southern (24-22, 12-9 SBC)
EAGLES
Batting Avg.: .271
Runs: 216
Runs Per Game: 4.7
Hits: 321
Home Runs: 40
Stolen Bases: 32
ERA: 4.18
Strikeouts: 189

Series History vs. Georgia Southern
All-Time: USA, 5-1
In Mobile: USA, 3-0    
Last Meeting: L, 3-5 – 4/17/16
Streak: L1

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS    
– South Alabama (28-18, 10-12 SBC) comes into its final home series of the season looking to make a move in the Sun Belt standings.  The Jaguars currently sit in seventh – a loss behind Louisiana-Monroe in sixth and two losses behind Texas-Arlington in fifth.  USA holds a two-game lead in the win column over Troy in eighth.
– USA had a pair of early scoring opportunities Tuesday night at No. 17/18 LSU, but left five runners on base in the first two innings.  The Tigers then used a pair of three-run innings in the fourth and sixth to break open the game and pick up the 6-0 win.
– Prior to Sunday's finale, South Alabama will honor its two seniors – Amanda Minahan and Destin Vicknair.  USA will also have a special presentation naming the hitting facility before to game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
– Minahan leads the team in home runs (8) and sits just outside the league's Top 10 in total bases (73), RBI (33) and home runs.  
– Coming into her final SBC home series, Minahan is tied with former Jag Brittany Fowler (2010-13) for third place on the program's all-time career home runs list with 25.  Minahan is just three away from the all-time mark of 28 set by Christin Crocker (2009-12) and Kaitlyn Griffith (2012-15).
– Minahan is also 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 Fowler's all-time mark of 136.
– While she is batting just .290 this season, the senior outfielder has been the second-best hitter in Sun Belt play for the Jaguars as she is hitting at a .348 clip.
– Jag shortstop Kristian Foster has been outstanding at driving in runs over the past several games as she is now tied with Minahan with 33 RBI.  Of her 33 RBI, 21 have come in Sun Belt play – the most of any player on the South roster.
– Over her last 24 games, Foster has driven in 24 runs and is batting .351 and has recorded seven of her team-best 10 multiple-RBI games during that span.  She has driven at least one run in six of her last seven outings.
– Foster also has 13 multiple-hit games this spring and ranks second on the club with a .336 batting average, to go along with her 45 hits and 15 runs scored.
– Along with Foster, the Jaguars currently have four players batting over .300 in their lineup – Kaleigh Todd (.379), MC Nichols (.333), Megan Harris (.306) and Foster.
– Todd continues to rank among the conference leaders in hits (58, tied-fourth), triples (3, tied-third), stolen bases (16, tied-third), runs scored (38, seventh) and batting average (seventh).
– Over her last 29 games, Todd has had a hit in all but five of those and had multi-hits 12 times.  The junior second baseman has a team-best 19 multi-hit outings this spring.
– Devin Brown (14-6) returned to the circle last weekend at Louisiana-Monroe after missing the previous two weekends due to illness.  
– Brown has gone the distance in each of her last five starts and has 16 complete games.
– The junior right-hander leads the Sun Belt in opposing batting average (.192) and is second in both earned run average (1.73), while also ranking among the conference leaders in several other categories – strikeouts (160, third), strikeouts looking (39, fifth), hits allowed (96, fourth), runs allowed (36, second) and earned runs allowed (34, tied-second), among other categories.
– Brown also ranks among the NCAA leaders in shutouts (9, eighth), strikeouts (33rd), hits allowed (50th), strikeouts per 7 innings (8.1, 37th) and ERA (59th).
– Vicknair has been solid in the circle this season as she holds a 12-10 record and a 2.55 ERA.  She ranks in the Top 10 of the league in several different pitching categories coming into the weekend.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES    
– Georgia Southern (24-22, 12-9 SBC) comes into the weekend series versus the Jaguars currently fourth-place in the Sun Belt standings – two-and-a-half games in front of the South.
– On Wednesday, the Eagles swept a doubleheader over Savannah State, defeating the Tigers 7-0 and 8-1.  Emily Snyder blasted three home runs – one in the opener and two in the second game – and drove in six in the two games, while Kierra Camp registered her first career no-hitter and the program's first since May of 2014.
– Last weekend, GS defeated Texas State 2-0 in the series opener, but fell 9-4 and 4-3 in the final two games to drop the series.
– Snider has been one of the top players in the Sun Belt this season as she ranks in the top 5 of numerous categories.  The senior leads the SBC in triples (6), is second batting average (.403), slugging percentage (.861), home runs (16) and total bases (124), while ranking fourth in hits (58) and RBI (43).  
– Her .476 on-base percentage is tied for sixth with Louisiana-Lafayette's Kara Gremillion for sixth in the league and her 40 runs scored are also sixth.
– Snider also ranks among the NCAA leaders in total bases (fifth), home runs (sixth), slugging percentage (seventh) and triples (ninth).
– Three other Eagles are also hitting above .300 – Meredith McLendon (.364), Mekhia Freeman (.343) and Lydia Witkowski (.307).
– Freeman also ranks eighth in the conference in runs scored with 37, while she is tied with Louisiana-Monroe's Sydney McKay for ninth in total bases with 75.
– Dixie Raley (13-15) leads GS in the circle with a 3.12 earned run average.  The sophomore right-hander is fourth in the Sun Belt in strikeouts (127) and innings pitched (152.1), while her .202 opponent's batting average is sixth lowest in the league and her 36 strikeouts looking are sixth.
– Camp is 8-7 this spring with a 4.64 ERA.  As a staff, the Eagles have a team ERA of 4.18, which is the highest in the SBC.  Georgia Southern has also hit 53 batters, just two behind ULM's league mark of 55.
– Offensively, the Eagles are second in the conference in slugging percentage (.427) and home runs (40), and third in runs scored (216), RBI (186), triples (9) and total bases (506).

THE SERIES    
– South Alabama and Georgia Southern have met six previous times with the Jaguars holding a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series.  
– Last season, USA took two of three from the Eagles in Statesboro.  The 5-3 win in the series finale was Georgia Southern's first ever over the Jags.  South captured run-rule victories in each of the first two meetings, defeating GS 14-0 and 11-1 in five innings.
– South holds a 3-0 record in the series in games played in Mobile.

LAST TIME THEY MET    
– A day after setting a new program record for consecutive Sun Belt Conference victories (14), South Alabama saw that streak snapped, as the Jaguars gave up three unanswered runs over the final two innings to fall to Georgia Southern, 5-3, in the series finale at Eagle Field.
– South Alabama jumped ahead of the Eagles, 3-2, in the top of the fourth inning, but a pair of costly Jaguar fielding errors with two outs on the board in the fifth frame ultimately spelled defeat.
– Devin Brown finished the contest with 12 strikeouts, surpassing the previous Jaguar single-season strikeout total of 234 set by Beth Pilgrim in 2009.
– The Jags went out in front in the opening frame when Kaleigh Todd scored on a wild pitch to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage.
– South took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second with a run on Todd's one-out bases loaded infield single.  Todd led the Jags at the plate as she was 2-for-3 on the day.
– The Eagles tied the contest back up at 2-2 in the bottom of the third when Emily Snider drove Brown's 0-2, two-out pitch over the wall in left.
– USA regained the lead in the next half inning when Dayla Gulledge scored on Haleigh Lowe's two-out infield single.
– After Brown retired a pair in order to start the fifth, GS's Taylor Rogers struck out swinging but reached on the play after the ball in the dirt got away from Jaguar catcher Stephanie Pilkington.  Third baseman Emily Messer then bobbled a grounder from Snider, before Morgan Robinson's go-ahead, two-run double to deep right field to put the Eagles up, 4-3.
– The Eagles added an insurance run in the sixth when eight-hole hitter Alesha Mann homered with two away.

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).

Join the Bullpen Club, the softball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  Members have access to purchase parking passes and receive Jaguar Softball gear.  All donations to the Bullpen Club go directly to support the South Alabama softball program.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/bullpenclub

-- USA --