HUNTINGTON, W.V. - South Alabama will play Marshall for the first time in baseball on Friday.

South enters after extended rest with a canceled game against New Orleans, while Marshall played rwo midweek games at Morehead State, winning both.

SERIES HISTORY

South Alabama and Marshall have never met on the diamond, with the two programs not sharing the same conference until Marshall joined the Sun Belt in 2022. Holding nine conference championships, their latest came in 1981 as members of the Southern Conference. Their two NCAA Tournament appearances came in 1973 and 1978. 

Marshall enters the weekend with only one conference series win, over #13 Southern Miss, but has lost series to Arkansas State, JMU, #17 Troy, App State, and #21 Coastal Carolina. The Herd will enter the contest off a two-game midweek series against Morehead State, where the Herd won both games.

Rett Johnson was voted as the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week for week 10. After starting the week 7-for-7 at the plate over his first two games, the Jaguars' sophomore outfielder hit .625 (10-for-16), as South Alabama picked up its second Sun Belt series victory over the past three weekends. The Blue Springs, Miss., native registered a double, a home run, four runs scored and five RBI on the week. His first home run of the season tied the rubber game in the Texas State series, before the Jaguars erupted for eight runs over the subsequent four frames in a 10-2 series-clinching win. 

A run-rule victory over Texas State Thursday night was fueled by a 3-RBI home run from JOhn Smith III to put the game out of reach for the Jags. Smith III again rocked a two-run home run in the eighth to give South their first walk-off run-rule home run since David Doss' over Memphis in 2009. The Jags also took Saturday's rubber match with a dominant 10-2 win. Unlikely heroes emerged with big bats, OF Josh Stevenson knocked his second home run of the season to tie the game in the second inning, then OF Rett Johnson hit his first of the season to again tie the game in the third, and SS Ty Brooks loosed his first career home run for the final three runs of the game in the seventh inning.