MOBILE, Ala. – The sixth-seeded University of South Alabama will open up postseason play Wednesday afternoon when the Jaguars take on seventh-seeded Georgia Southern in a single-elimination game at the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championship held at Lamson Park and hosted by the University of Louisiana.

The winner of the contests will advance into the double-elimination portion of the league tournament and take on third-seeded Georgia State later in the day with first pitch set for 5:30 p.m.

Sun Belt Conference Championship Game Notes (PDF)

GAME: 54 | SUN BELT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP
Venue: Lamson Park | Lafayette, La.
Wednesday | May 9 | 12:30 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
Television: None
Radio: 99.5 The Jag FM
Live Stats: www.SunBeltSports.org
Live Stream (ESPN+): www.SunBeltSports.org
(In-Game Updates) Twitter: @WeAreSouth_SB

Ticket Information: Tournament all-session booklets are on sale to the general public starting at just $48 for general admission seating in the outfield. Fans are encouraged to look into reserved chair back ($84) and reserved bench back ($60) options, as well.  Single-game tickets will go on sale on Mon., May 7, to the general public, starting at $8 for general admission in the outfield. Fans can obtain reserved chair back or reserved bench back single-game seats for $14 or $10, respectively.  

(6) South Alabama JAGUARS
Record: 28-25, 13-13 SBC
Head Coach: Becky Clark (Mobile, '95)

(7) Georgia Southern EAGLES
Record: 28-24, 12-15 SBC
Head Coach: Kim Dean (Wisconsin-Parkside, '06)

SCOUTING THE JAGUARS    
– South Alabama (28-25, 13-13 SBC) enters the postseason after completing the season-series sweep over Troy by defeating Troy 11-1 (5 inn.) and 1-0 on the final day of the regular season.
– With the win in game one of the doubleheader versus the Trojans, the Jaguars clinched the sixth seed in this week's conference tournament.
– Haleigh Lowe – one of four Jaguar seniors playing their final games at Jaguar Field – led the way as she drove in five runs in the doubleheader.  Lowe plated four in game one, three of which coming on her fourth home run of the season in the third inning, and the senior then delivered the eventual game-winner with a sixth-inning, RBI double in game two.
– Lowe (.304) enters the conference tourney with at least one hit in 11 of her last 16 contests.  She is tied for second on the team with 11 multi-hit games and leads the team with nine multi-RBI games.
– Of her 31 RBI – 23 came during Sun Belt play.  The 31 RBI also are tied with two other Sun Belt players for 10th-most in the league.  
– Lowe also batted .378 against league competition during the regular season with all but one of her extra-base hits coming against league opponents.
– Lowe is second on the team in extra-base hits (14) and home runs (4), and her seven doubles are third-most.
– Fellow senior Kaleigh Todd is closing out her Jaguar career strong as she continues to rank as one of the top offensive players not only on the South Alabama roster, but in the Sun Belt.
– Entering play this week, Todd leads the team with a .383 batting average, which is sixth in the Sun Belt.  She also has 64 hits – tied for fourth-most in the conference – while she is also tied for third in the league in steals (17) and 10th in runs scored (30), to go along with her .431 on-base percentage.
– Todd is batting .448 against Sun Belt competition and over her last 26 games, Todd is batting .484 (44-for-91), scored 22 runs and recorded 14 of her 17 multi-hit games during that stretch.
– Kristian Foster leads the team and is tied for seventh in the league in doubles with 10 and ranks second on the Jag roster in RBI with 27.
– Brittani Reid (.299) leads the team in total bases (81) and extra-base hits (18).  She is second on the Jaguar roster in home runs (7), runs scored (25), hits (46) and doubles (8).
– B. Reid ranks among the league leaders in triples (T-second), and 10th in both slugging percentage (.526) and total bases.
– Devin Brown (17-15) enters the tournament with a 2.06 earned run average and 216 strikeouts.  Brown ranks fourth all-time in Sun Belt history in career strikeouts with 917.
– Brown has 23 complete games on the year and has tossed seven shutouts – six solo and one combined.  She also has seven double-digit strikeout games this season and a program-best 39 for her career.
– She is second in the league in innings pitched (211.0), strikeouts looking (62) and strikeouts. Her strikeout tally is 16th in the latest NCAA rankings.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES    
– Georgia Southern (0-0, 0-0 SBC) comes into the postseason as the seventh seed.  Over the weekend, the Eagles dropped two of three at in-state conference rival Georgia State.
– The first two games of the series were both close contests with the Panthers taking game one, 3-2 scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh after the Eagles had taken the league in the top half of the inning. Georgia Southern bounced back to win game two, 7-5 in eight innings, but Georgia State used a six-run first to cruise to a 8-0 run-rule victory in the finale.
– Offensively, the Eagles are led by Hannah Farrell (.333) and Mekhia Freeman (.331).
– Harrell leads the club in hits (54), home runs (9), slugging percentage (.562) and total bases (91), while she is second in doubles (10).
– Harrell also ranks among the league's top 10 in slugging percentage, doubles and home runs.
– Freeman has 48 hits and has scored 23 runs for the Eagles, while driving in 25.  Freeman's four sacrifice flies are tied for third-most in the Sun Belt.
– As a team, Georgia Southern ranks second in the conference in home runs with 47.  Along with Farrell's nine, four other players have hit at least six home runs on the year – Macy Coleman (8), Allyssah Mullis (8), Shelby Wilson (7) and Logan Harrell (6).
– Mullis (32), Wilson (31) and Harrell (30) are the top three run producers on the Eagle roster entering the postseason.
– Kierra Camp leads the club with a 12-9 record and a 3.22 earned-run average.  She has gone the distance in 14 of her 24 starts and tossed three total shutouts.

THE SERIES VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN    
– The meeting between the two clubs meet in the Sun Belt Conference Championship will mark the 13th in the all-time series between the two clubs.
– The Eagles took two of three during the regular season in Statesboro.  GS won the first two, but the Jaguars bounced back to take the series finale with an 8-0 win.
– South Alabama still leads the series 9-3.
– The two teams have never faced each other in the Sun Belt Championship.

INSIDE THE SERIES VS. THE EAGLES    
Series: 9-3 (H: 6-0 / A: 3-3 / N: 0-0)
Sun Belt Conference Games: 9-3 (H: 6-0 / A: 3-3 / N: 0-0)
Sun Belt Tournament Games: 0-0 (H: 0-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
Extra-Inning Games: 0-0 (H: 0-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
Run-Rule Games: 3-0 (H: 1-0 / A: 2-0 / N: 0-0)
NCAA Tournament Games: 0-0 (H: 0-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
First Meeting: 4/11/15
Last Meeting: 3/18/18
Longest South Alabama Streak: 5 ('15-'16)
Longest Georgia Southern Streak: 2 ('18)
Current Streak: 1 by South Alabama
Last 5 – 3-2
Last 10 – 7-3

2018 SERIES RECAP VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN    
– Georgia Southern took two of the three meetings from the Jaguars this season back during week one of Sun Belt Conference play in Statesboro, Ga.
– The Eagles used a pair of big innings in the first two games of the series to sweep the doubleheader with a pair of 5-1 victories.
– In game one, GS scored four unearned runs in the third and held the Jags without a hit until the seventh inning.
– In game two, the Eagles scored three runs in the second and two in the sixth, before Kamdyn Kvistad finally put the Jags on the board with a solo shot to left center in the seventh inning.
– The series finale saw South Alabama post its best performance of the series as Devin Brown tossed a complete-game, three-hit shutout and the South Alabama offense scored eight runs on 11 hits to pick up an 8-0 win over Georgia Southern at Eagle Field.
– Leading 1-0, the Jags scored four in the third and then closed out the game with two more runs in the seventh to pick up the win.

ALL-TIME SOUTH ALABAMA SUN BELT CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Overall Record: 19-14
Appearances: (11) 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Championship Finals: (4) 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Championships: (3) 2012, 2013, 2015
Run-Rule Games: 1-1
Extra-Inning Games: 4-0

RECORD VS. TEAMS
Florida Atlantic – 0-4    
Florida International – 2-0    
Georgia State – 1-1    
Louisiana – 4-4    
ULM – 6-0    
Middle Tennessee – 0-2    
North Texas – 1-0    
UTA – 1-1    
Texas State – 0-1    
Troy – 1-0    
Western Kentucky – 3-1    

RECORD AS SEED
No. 1 – 0-0
No. 2 – 14-4
No. 3 – 2-2
No. 4 – 2-2
No. 5 – 0-4
No. 6 – 1-2
No. 7 – 0-0
No. 8 – 0-0

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On what the team needs to do against Georgia Southern: "I didn't think we played particularly well that weekend and that's not taking anything away from Georgia Southern.  I thought we played better Sunday than Saturday.  We need to stay aggressive in what we are doing right now and keep an aggressive mind set, and play team softball.  If we do that, I think everything else falls into place."
- On what worked against Troy Sunday: "I thought Sunday was a great day for us.  We were able to give them a couple of days off with finals last week and it gave the players a chance to get some rest and get their legs back underneath them.  It's been a long season and we've been on the road a lot.  I think being able to give them that breather and get them caught up gave them fresh breath again."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_Jags. 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

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