Baseball Hosts South Alabama on Tuesday
2/27/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 27, 2012
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Following a series sweep of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Alabama (3-3) will play two non-conference mid-week games against South Alabama and Southern Mississippi this week. The Crimson Tide hosts South Alabama on Tuesday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m., from Sewell-Thomas Stadium. UA's first road game of the season is Wednesday at Southern Miss., with first pitch at 4 p.m. (CST) from Pete Taylor Park.
All games for the 2012 season will be broadcast on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. Tuesday's game against South Alabama will be available on WFFN-FM 95.3 in Tuscaloosa and Wednesday's game against Southern Mississippi will air on WTSK-AM 790. Chris Stewart and Lee Tracey will provide the radio broadcast for Tuesday's game against South Alabama. Lee Tracey will fly solo for Wednesday's game in Hattiesburg, Miss.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
TUESDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Spencer Turnbull (Fr., RHP) 0-0 6.75 2/0 4.0 5 3 3 2 3
USA-Anthony Izzio (Jr., RHP) 1-0 0.00 2/1 7.0 5 2 0 2 4
WEDNESDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Case Nixon (Soph., RHP) 0-0 0.00 2/0 3.0 2 0 0 0 1
USM-Andrew Pierce (Sr., RHP) 0-1 3.38 1/1 5.1 6 2 2 2 4
South Alabama enters Tuesday night's game with a 2-5 overall record. The Jaguars have a team batting average of .232, while the pitching staff has a 4.13 ERA. The Jaguars are coming off a series loss to Samford. USA posted a 9-4 win to open the series against the Bulldogs, before losing game two, 9-8, and game three, 8-7.
Drew Cofield leads the team with a .417 batting average in five games, with three starts at catcher. Cofield is second on the team with seven RBI. Left fielder Nick Zoharion leads the club with eight RBI, while hitting .353 in five games. Right fielder Nolan Earley has a .370 average and is one of four players on the squad hitting over .300. Earley leads the team with 10 hits and four doubles. South Alabama starting RHP Anthony Izzio (1-0, 0.00 ERA) was the winning pitcher in a 12-4 win over Jackson State last week. In 6.0 innings versus the Tigers, Izzio allowed three hits and two unearned runs with four strikeouts. In two appearances this season, Izzio's allowed two unearned runs on five hits with four strikeouts in 7.0 innings.
Tuesday's game between Alabama and South Alabama will mark the 103rd meeting all-time between the two schools. After splitting the two games last season, Alabama leads the series 54-48. In the most recent meeting, Alabama posted a 4-3 win over the Jaguars in Tuscaloosa on March 30, 2011. UA head coach Mitch Gaspard is 4-1 all-time against South Alabama, including a 3-1 mark as the Alabama head coach.
The Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles enter this week with a 4-3 record. Southern Miss is coming off a series win over Troy, after winning two of three games over the weekend. USM dropped the first game of the series, 3-0, before winning game two, 2-1, and game three, 8-1. The Golden Eagles have a team batting average of .250 through seven games, as right fielder Mason Robbins leads the team with a .417 average.
Left fielder Kameron Brunty is hitting .364 and leads the team with eight hits. Dillon Day is hitting .304 while starting all seven games in center field. USM is scheduled to start right handed pitcher Andrew Pierce (0-1, 3.38 ERA) on Wednesday. Pierce suffered the loss in his first start of the season, as the Golden Eagles lost, 2-1, at Louisiana-Monroe on Feb. 22. Pierce allowed two earned runs on six hits and struck out six in 5.1 innings.
When Alabama and Southern Miss square off on Wednesday, it will mark the 95th meeting all-time between the two schools. After splitting the two games last season, Alabama leads the series 68-26. In the last meeting, Alabama posted a 7-3 win over the No. 15-ranked Golden Eagles at Pete Taylor Field on April 26, 2011. UA head coach Mitch Gaspard is 1-5 all-time against South Alabama, including a 1-1 mark as the Alabama head coach.
After starting the season with three losses to Florida Atlantic, Alabama (3-3) responded by sweeping a three-game series against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-7). The Crimson Tide outscored the Golden Lions 30-3 in the series, while posting back-to-back shutouts to open the series. UA posted a 14-0 win on Friday, a 7-0 win on Saturday and a 9-3 victory to wrap up the series on Sunday.
Alabama posted a .347 batting average for the weekend, while collecting 11 extra base hits, including three home runs, six doubles and two triples. Alabama was a perfect 12-for-12 in stolen base attempts, including seven stolen bases in game two of the series. The seven stolen bases in game two were the most for the Tide since stealing nine bags against Mississippi Valley State on May 14, 2002. UA's 14-run performance on Friday was the most runs scored since posting 15 against Stony Brook on March 12, 2010. The Tide's eight-run eighth on Friday marked the most runs scored in one inning since scoring eight in the fourth against Mississippi State on April 25, 2010.
The UA starters threw 17.0 innings, allowing one earned run on eight hits with 15 strikeouts. The Alabama bullpen combined for 10.0 innings of work, allowed just two runs on nine hits, with eight strikeouts and four walks. The pitching staff combined to hold the Golden Lions to a .185 average for the series.
Freshman starter Taylor Guilbeau pitched a career-high 6.0 innings, allowing no runs on two hits, while striking out four to get his first career win on Friday night. Saturday starting pitcher Charley Sullivan threw 6.0 innings, allowing no runs on three hits, while striking out a career-high five. Before allowing a hit in the bottom of the fourth inning, Sullivan retired 10 straight batters to start the game. Sunday starting pitcher Justin Kamplain earned his first victory, after throwing 5.0 innings. Kamplain allowed one earned run on three hits and struck out a career-high six batters. Ian Gardeck made two appearances, throwing 2.0 scoreless innings, while striking out three hitters. Jake Hubbard also made two appearances, throwing 2.0 innings. Hubbard did not allow a hit or a walk while striking out three of the six batters he faced. In his only appearance of the series, Case Nixon threw 2.0 scoreless innings on Saturday to help preserve UA's second shutout of the series.
Alabama got home runs in the series from Ben Moore, Jon Kelton and Jared Reaves. Moore finished the series with a .571 batting average, and led the team with five RBI and six runs scored. Moore also posted a .692 on-base percentage as he reached base in 9-of-13 trips to the plate, which included three walks and two HBP. Kelton finished the weekend 3-for-10 (.300) with a double, two runs scored and five RBI. Reaves posted a .364 average with four RBI and two runs scored. Reaves had three extra base hits, which included a double, triple and a home run. Cameron Carlisle posted a team-high .750 average in the series, collecting three hits in four at-bats. Carlisle had one RBI, two runs scored and a walk. Hunter Gregory started all three games in left field and finished the series with a .500 average (5-for-10) and scored three runs. Cary Baxter was 4-for-7 (.571) in the series with three RBI and two runs scored. Taylor Dugas reached base in all three games to run his streak to 18 games. Dugas was 2-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored in the opener. Dugas recorded his 57th career double and 99th career RBI in game one of the series. Dugas was 0-for-6 with three walks and a HBP in the final two games. With three walks on Saturday, Dugas tied Evan Bush for second all-time at Alabama with 131 career walks.
Taylor Dugas entered his final season at Alabama ranked in the top-10 in hits, batting average, on-base percentage, doubles, triples, runs scored and walks. Based on season averages, Dugas can set the school records for hits, doubles, triples and runs scored. With two hits against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Dugas now has 270 career hits and passed Dave Magadan (1981-83) for sixth all time in hits. He now has 57 doubles in his career, passing Sam Bozanich (1998-2000) for sixth all time. He needs one double to match Jeremy Brown (1999-2002) for fourth. Dugas has 12 triples to tie G.W. Keller (1997-99) for second and needs one more to tie Emeel Salem (2004-07) for the school record.
The long week for the Crimson Tide continues on the weekend when UA travels to New Orleans, La., to play Tulane in a three-game series at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. First pitch for the series opener on Friday, March 2, is slated for 6:30 p.m. (CST). Game two begins at 2 p.m. (CST), on Saturday and the series finale is set for 1 p.m. (CST), on Sunday. The series will mark the first meeting between the two teams since 2005. Alabama leads the all-time series, which began in 1897, 60-26.
