Box Score (PDF)

LAFAYETTE, La. – The University of South Alabama baseball team scored eight runs in the first inning en route to an 11-5 win over Louisiana in Sunday's rubber match at Russo Park.

USA (9-7) rallied to win the final two games of the weekend to clinch the series, which marked its final non-conference series of the season.

South Alabama will return to action Wed., March 14, when it travels to Baton Rouge, La., for a midweek matchup with LSU at 6:30 p.m. that will be broadcast live on WatchESPN.

GAME FACTS
- USA sent 11 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning, and jumped out to an eight-run lead. Dylan Hardy led off the game with a single to left field, and advanced to second on a bunt single to first base by Paul Russo. Travis Swaggerty followed with a single through the right side of the infield to load the bases with no outs. Donovan reached on a fielder's choice on a grounder to first, but UL first baseman Kennon Fontenot's throw to home sailed wide of the plate to allow Hardy to score the game's first run. Wells Davis then reached on a fielding error by Fontenot, which scored Russo and doubled the Jaguar lead at 2-0. Carter Perkins followed with a three-run double to the left-center gap on a 2-1 pitch to extend the USA lead to 5-0. Will Luft drew a walk before Andrew Bates laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position with one out. Hunter Brittain then lifted a 1-2 pitch from UL left-hander Austin Perrin over the left field wall for a three-run home run, the first hit and homer of his Jag career, for an 8-0 lead. 
- UL (6-9) threatened to score its first run of the game in the bottom of the third. Jonathan Windham led off the inning with a double to left-center field, and advanced to third with one out after a groundout to first by Luke Coker. But Jaguar right-hander Chase Shell induced a foul popup to first off the bat of Kole McKinnon for the second out of the frame, and escaped the inning on a flyout to left field by Daniel Lahare to preserve an eight-run USA advantage.
- The Cajuns answered in the bottom of the fourth on a one-out solo home run to right field by Hunter Kasuls to cut the Jag lead to 8-1.
- UL cut the USA advantage to 8-2 in the bottom of the sixth on a one-out RBI double to right field by Kasuls. Fontenot followed with an RBI double to right-center field to cut the Jag lead to 8-3. The Cajuns loaded the bases with one out later in the inning following consecutive walks issued by left-hander Jared Proctor. Windham followed with a sacrifice fly into right field foul territory that scored Fontenot and cut the USA lead in half at 8-4.
- USA answered with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth to take a 10-4 lead. Perkins singled to left-center field with one out, and was lifted for pinch-runner Andrew Cash who scored one batter later when Luft delivered a one-out, two-run home run to right field to extend the USA lead to 10-4.
- UL cut the Jaguar lead in half at 10-5 with it's final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI double to right field by McKinnon.
- USA added the game's final run in the top of the ninth. Hardy reached on a hit by pitch to lead off the inning, and moved to third on a single to right field by Russo that put runners at the corners with no outs. Russo was caught stealing at second for the first out of the frame before Swaggerty was intentionally walked to put runners at the corners with one out. Donovan reached on an RBI fielder's choice on a grounder to second that allowed Hardy to score from third.

NOTES
- Freshman Hunter Brittain made his first career start at South Alabama, starting at designated hitter and batting in the nine-hole in the lineup. He recorded his first career hit in the top of the first inning in the form of a three-run home run to left field.
- Three Jaguars recorded multiple hits in the game, led by Perkins who went 2-for-3 with a double, three RBIs and one run scored. Hardy finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and Russo went 2-for-4 with one run.
- Luft homered, drove in two runs and scored once, while Donovan and Davis each drove in one run and scored once.
- Kasuls went 2-for-5 with a double, one home run, two RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Cajuns at the plate.
- Shell (1-2) allowed four runs on six hits, and tied his career high with five strikeouts while issuing one walk in 5 1/3 innings pitched to earn his first career win at USA.
- Perrin (0-4) allowed eight runs on five hits with one walk in one-third of an inning in the loss.

QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi
- On the eight-run first inning:
"We strung some really good at-bats together there in the first inning, and Hunter Brittain hit the home run. We just got guys on base; we took a good approach to the plate. We knew he (Perrin) wasn't a hard-throwing lefty, but had a pretty good changeup. I was proud of our guys' effort overall on the weekend. We had really good at-bats yesterday and today. After getting stuffed on Friday night, our guys got up off the mat and looked more like the offense that I know they are."

- On Chase Shell:
"Chase was pretty good today. I have seen him better, and the thing is he was behind (in the count) a lot; he wasn't ahead of a lot of hitters. He had to throw too many fastballs, he wasn't mixing enough with his offspeed and was getting behind a little bit. When Chase is really going good, he can pitch forward and backwards. I don't think he did as good a job of that today. He has to be a command guy, pitch backwards and use his fastball. He made some good pitches, but I have seen him sharper though and he will need to be sharper for us moving forward. But Chase is going to give you a good effort, and we played good defense behind him for the most part. And all I ask is that pitchers keep us in a position to win the ballgame, and he did that."

- On winning the series:
"Our guys needed to win again, and we knew this was going to be a tough series. We've lost some tough games, and we've played arguably one of the toughest schedules in the country the first 14 to 16 ballgames; there aren't many who have played a tougher schedule than us. Nothing has been given to us, if anything we've let a couple slip away. But you learn from those and move on. This weekend just means that we won two games, and we have LSU on Wednesday. We still need to get a couple of guys on track offensively, but I was proud to see a few guys get on track offensively this weekend. We'll need to be sharp on Wednesday and next weekend. The conference is up this year; there's some teams doing some good things in the league. We need to continue to get better, develop and grow as a team, but there are some guys who took some lumps early and I think they are working their way out of it and we'll be better for it."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Wed., March 14, when it travels to Baton Rouge, La., for a midweek matchup with LSU at 6:30 p.m. that will be broadcast live on WatchESPN.

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

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