MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama softball team will return home Wednesday night to begin a five-game home stand with a midweek contest against regional rival Southern Mississippi. First pitch versus the Golden Eagles is set for 6:30 p.m. at Jaguar Field.
Game Notes
GAME: 33 | VS. SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
Venue: Jaguar Field | Mobile, Ala.
SERIES SCHEDULE
April 3, 2019 | 6:30 p.m.
South Alabama JAGUARS
NFCA: -- | USA: -- | SA: -- | RPI: 94
Record: 12-20 (2-10 SBC)
Head Coach: Becky Clark (Mobile, '95)
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP): .273 / .435 / .368
Southern Mississippi GOLDEN EAGLES
NFCA: -- | USA: -- | SA: -- | RPI: 120
Record: 18-16 (5-7 CUSA)
Head Coach: Wendy Hogue (William Carey, '98)
Team Slash Line (AVG / SLG / OBP): .288 / .415 / .383
GAME INFORMATION
Television: None
Radio: None
Live Stats: www.USAJaguars.com
Live Stream: www.USAJaguars.com
(In-Game Updates) Twitter: @WeAreSouth_SB
SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
– South Alabama (12-20, 2-9 SBC) returns home after dropping two of three over the weekend at second-place Appalachian State.
– After falling 5-1 in the opener, the Jaguars bounced back and scored a season high in runs with a 14-5, five-inning victory in game two. The Mountaineers broke a 1-1 tie with a three-run third inning on Sunday in the series finale and defeated South 5-2 to take the series.
– Brittani Reid paces the club at the plate with a .411 batting average, a .684 slugging percentage and a .525 on-base percentage. The junior outfielder leads the team with 39 hits, 15 of which have gone for extra bases. Her nine doubles are tied for top honors in the Sun Belt in that category.
– B. Reid also ranks among Sun Belt leaders in on-base percentage (third), batting average (fifth), walks (21 – T-sixth), slugging percentage (sixth) and hits (T-seventh).
– B. Reid has a team-high 10 multi-hit games this season and 22 for her Jaguar career.
– Kamdyn Kvistad is second on the Jag roster with a .320 average and hits (31). Kvistad has four home runs, three doubles and has scored 13 runs.
– After getting off to a slow earlier this season, freshman outfielder Victoria Ortiz has been solid over her last 20 outings, raising her average to .308, which ranks third on the Jag roster in hitting. Over that time, she has six doubles, two home runs, 10 RBI and has scored 10 runs.
– Kennedy Cronan (.290) leads the team with 22 runs driven in, while Kvistad and Abby Krzywiecki have 15 RBI each. Dayla Gulledge and B. Reid also have 14 RBI.
– As a team, South has recorded 30 home runs this year – the eighth-most in program history – with Cronan's eight leading the way. Eight players have two or more home runs this season.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
– Southern Mississippi (18-16, 5-7 CUSA) comes into the midweek contest after dropping two of three over the weekend in Hattiesburg to Marshall.
– The Herd took the first two games of the series (6-1 and 6-3), with USM picking up a 5-0 shutout in the series finale on Sunday.
– The Golden Eagles are 5-9 in true road games this spring.
– Offensively, Chase Nelson leads the club hitting at a .349 clip, with 37 hits and 29 runs scored.
– Sarah Van Schaik (.327) has 32 hits on the season, 13 of which have gone for extra bases. Her 11 doubles lead the team. She also has 27 RBI.
– Lacey Sumerlain (.322), Alyssa Davis (.314) and Caroline Casey (.313) have also been strong at the plate. Davis' six home runs are the most on the USM roster.
– Both Sumerlain and sophomore outfielder Destini Brown (.310) has been even better since the start of Conference USA play. Sumerlain is hitting .414 in her 12 league contests, while Brown is just under .400 hitting .394 against CUSA competition.
– Brown is also 11-for-15 in her stolen bases this spring. As a team, USM is 38-for-44 in that category.
– The Golden Eagles have been one of the top pitching staffs in 2019 as they hold a team ERA of 2.26 and have shutout opponents seven times.
– Baille Springfield, Abby Trahan and Makenna Pierce all hold an ERA under two coming into the week.
– Trahan (1.70 ERA) has 12 complete-game efforts and four shutouts, and has struck out 85 while issuing just 25 walks.
– Springfield (5-2) has an earned run average of 2.21 and has gone the distance in three of her six starts.
– Makenna Pierce, who was a high school teammate of Cronan at Daphne High School, has an ERA of 2.26.
THE SERIES VS. SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
– South Alabama and Southern Mississippi have met 21 previous times in the all-time series.
– The Jags hold a 15-5-1 record in the series and have won each of the last four meetings and six of the last seven.
– The two teams have met in Mobile10 times in the series with the series with the Jags holding a 9-1 record in those meetings.
– The lone tie in program history came against USM on Feb. 21, 2009 in Hattiesburg (6-6).
– Wednesday's contest will be the second series meeting this spring between the two programs as the Jaguars picked up a 4-0 victory over USM in Hattiesburg on March 19.
– There have been eight series in the shutouts with the Jags holding five of them.
– Four of the Golden Eagles' five series wins in have been one-run decisions.
– The first game in program history came against Southern Miss in Hattiesburg on Feb. 14, 2007, a 1-0 victory by the Golden Eagles.
INSIDE THE SERIES VS. THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Series: 15-5-1 (H: 9-1 / A: 5-4-1 / N: 1-0)
Extra-Inning Games: 1-0 (H: 0-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 1-0)
Run-Rule Games: 2-0 (H: 2-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
NCAA Tournament Games: 0-0 (H: 0-0 / A: 0-0 / N: 0-0)
First Meeting: 2/14/07
Last Meeting: 3/19/19
Longest South Alabama Streak: 4, 3x, last ('17-'19)
Longest Southern Mississippi Streak: 2 ('16-'17)
Current Streak: 4 by South Alabama
Last 5 – 4-1
Last 10 – 8-2
RECAPPING THIS SEASON'S MEETING
March 19, 2019 – A. Reid tossed seven scoreless innings to lead South Alabama to a 4-0 midweek road victory over Southern Miss at the USM Softball Complex. A. Reid allowed just four hits and struck out four en route to picking up her third shutout of the season.
– Ortiz posted her third multi-hit effort of the season as she was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, a walk, a run scored and a RBI.
– The Golden Eagles loaded the bases in the bottom of the third after a one-out single from Jamie Powell and a pair of two-out walks to Nelson and Brown, but A. Reid was able to get a fly out to right to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.
– South broke the scoreless tie as Katelyn Gruich – a Biloxi, Miss., native – blasted a 1-1 pitch from Springfield deep over the wall in left to put the Jags up 1-0.
– The Jaguars extended their lead the next time up with a pair of runs. Lyric Cabral led off the fifth with a double to the gap in left center as she lined a 1-1 pitch off Springfield. South then got a run one batter later when Davis' throw on Harris' sacrifice bunt attempt when into right, allowing pinch runner Jordyn Calderon to score from second (2-0). The third run of the game for the Jaguars came later in the inning when Ortiz dropped in a double just inside the left field line scoring Harris (unearned) from third to make it 3-0.
– The Jags added an insurance run in the top of the seventh as they loaded the bases with one out after a leadoff single by Ortiz and a pair of walks to Gruich and pinch hitter Holly Stewart. Cronan then plated Oritz with a RBI ground out to second.
SOUTH ALABAMA AGAINST CONFERENCE USA
– South Alabama has faced a current Conference USA members 158 previous times
– The Jags hold a 96-61-1 record against CUSA opponents and are 1-2 versus the league this season falling during the opening weekend of the season to Louisiana Tech (2-0) and Western Kentucky (7-3) at the Sand Dollar Classic in Gulf Shores, Ala., but defeating Southern Miss (4-0) last month in Hattiesburg.
– Of the 158 previous meetings against the league, 114 came against current CUSA members when they were members of the Sun Belt Conference.
– South faced three CUSA opponents and posted a 4-0 mark – Southern Mississippi (2), UAB and WKU – during the 2018 season.
THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On what the team did well in the first meeting this season against Southern Miss: "I thought Lex pitched a great game at their place and made some tough pitches when she needed to. Our defense did a great job of backing her up as well. I think overall we played a very fundamentally sound game at their place."
- On what the Jaguars need to do in this second meeting in order to be successful: "I think we have to do the same thing tomorrow; pitch well, play defense, and string quality at-bats together. They are a familiar opponent and we know each other pretty well. It just comes down to who plays fundamental ball and executes when it counts."
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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