NEW ORLEANS, La. - South Alabama (27-18, 11-10 SBC) secured the victory and split the home-away season series with its most common opponent in New Orleans (18-29, 8-16 SLC) on Wednesday night at Maestri Field at Privateer Park.
PRIMARY THREADS
- The midweek regular Jaguar starter Hayden O'Dell recorded nine consecutive outs to open the game until a solo shot snuck over the wall barely out of the reach of right fielder Mike Young, and tallied the first Privateer hit and run of the evening.
- An RBI single in the following frame for UNO put the Privateers up a pair of runs after five complete, but the Jaguars threw punches in the sixth inning when Mike Young tagged a solo shot to left field to lead-off the inning. Rett Johnson followed suit after Marc Stephens drew a walk and gave the Jags the lead when he got all of a two-run shot belted to the opposite field.
- Jacob Haley was first out of the bullpen and was phenomenal. The right-hander went two innings of shutout ball with four strikeouts, before Andrew Floyd tossed a scoreless frame.
- Third baseman Stewart Puckett added an important insurance run in the away half of the ninth, when he singled home Brennon Wright to increase the Jaguar lead to two. Jaxon Shineflew earned his fourth save of the season when he shut the door in the bottom of the ninth.
KEY STATS
- Rett Johnson led the way for the Jaguar offense after a double, two-run go-ahead sixth inning homer, and single in a three-for-four night at the plate.
- Brennon Wright pushed his hit streak to an active team-best seven games when he singled and later scored.
- Hayden O'Dell (W, 3-2) earned the win against his former team for his third of the season with the following line: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K.
- The Jaguar bullpen combined for four scoreless innings and eight strikeouts, highlighted by Jacob Haley who delivered two innings while striking out the first four consecutive hitters he saw.
- Jaxon Shineflew (S, 4) earned his fourth save of the season recording all three outs by way of the K.
QUOTABLE
HEAD COACH MARK CALVI
"I thought O'Dell was exceptional tonight. We got off to a slow start offensively, but our pitching and defense has been exceptional and kept us around. Haley was fantastic coming in out of the bullpen, and Floyd behind him. We needed every guy to do well and needed to score some runs late, which is what we did. Proud of our guys' effort. You're not necessarily playing against the team over there, you're playing against momentum. Whoever can hold it the longest is usually the team that wins. We didn't have momentum for long tonight, but we did just enough with it, and won the ballgame and that's what I care about."
ON DECK
The Jaguars stay on the road to spend the weekend in San Marcos, Texas with a three-game set at Texas State. Friday's opener is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., while Saturday's contest will see a first pitch at 2:30 p.m. The series finale is slated for 12:00 p.m. (CT).
FOLLOW THE JAGS
For complete coverage of University South Alabama baseball, follow the Jaguars on social media @SouthAlabamaBSB (Twitter), /SouthAlabamaAthletics (Facebook), @southalabamabsb on Instagram, or visit the official home of South Alabama athletics at
USAJaguars.com.
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