Baseball Hosts Southern Mississippi and Samford This Week
3/12/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2012
Game Notes for Southern Miss and Samford
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama baseball has a five-game week that includes home games against Southern Mississippi and Samford, before traveling to No. 4 Arkansas to open SEC play this weekend. The Crimson Tide will play their second game of the season against Southern Mississippi (10-6) on Tuesday night, with first pitch at 6:05 p.m., from Sewell-Thomas Stadium. UA will host Samford (11-5) on Wednesday night, with first pitch slated for 6:05 p.m.
The games against Southern Mississippi and Samford can be heard on WFFN-FM 95.3. Chris Stewart and Lee Tracey will provide the radio broadcast for the Southern Miss game, and Tracey will fly solo for the Samford broadcast. Livestats will also be available on RollTide.com. All home games during the 2012 season will be available through RollTide.com/TIDETV.
Probable Starting Pitchers
TUESDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Justin Kamplain (Fr., LHP) 1-1 2.51 4/3 14.1 11 8 4 12 13
USM-Boomer Scarborough (So., RHP) 1-0 0.66 3/3 13.2 9 3 1 11 10
WEDNESDAY W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Spencer Turnbull (Fr., RHP) 0-1 4.61 5/2 13.2 15 7 7 8 13
SAM-C.K. Irby (So., RHP) 2-0 1.23 6/1 7.1 2 1 1 2 8
The Tide is coming off a 1-2 weekend in the DRASH Alabama Baseball Classic, and enters the week with a 6-9 overall record. UA's defeated No. 20 Louisville, 7-6, on Saturday. It was the Tide's first game against a ranked opponent this season. The Tide suffered losses to East Carolina, 3-1, and Oral Roberts, 3-2, in the classic. Alabama is 1-4 in its last five games and has a 4-6 record in its last 10 games.
USM comes to Tuscaloosa after taking two of three games in a weekend series from Louisiana-Lafayette. The Golden Eagles have won three of its last five games, which includes a 5-4 win over Auburn. Southern Mississippi is 10-6 overall and comes into Tuesday's game with a two-game win streak, after defeating Louisiana-Lafayette, 4-3, in 11 innings on Saturday, and 11-3 on Sunday. Since a 14-2 win over Alabama on Feb. 29, USM has a 4-3 record, which includes wins over Charleston Southern, 16-2, and Auburn, 5-4. As a team, Southern Miss is hitting .289. The pitching staff has a 2.81 ERA, while holding opponents to a .231 batting average.
Mason Robbins leads the team with 24 hits and a .453 batting average. Robbins is second on the team with 11 RBI. Blake Brown leads the team with 20 RBI and three home runs, while hitting .315. Dillon Day is hitting .344, Michael Sterling is hitting .341, and Connor Barron has a .333 average. Tuesday's starting pitcher, Boomer Scarborough, has a 1-0 record in three starts with a 0.66 ERA. Scarborough has thrown 13.2 innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on nine hits with 10 strikeouts and 11 walks.
In a series that dates back to 1962, Tuesday's game between Alabama and Southern Miss will be the second game of the season and 96th meeting all-time between the two schools. Following the Golden Eagles' 14-2 win over the Tide on Feb. 29, 2012, Alabama leads the series 68-27. The team's split the season series a year ago, with each team winning on the road. Southern Mississippi has won four of the last five, but the teams have split the last 10 meetings overall. UA head coach Mitch Gaspard is 1-6 all-time against Southern Miss, while holding a 1-2 record against the Golden Eagles in his time at UA.
Samford has won four of its last five games, including winning two of three from UNC-Greensboro last weekend, and will make the one hour trip to Tuscaloosa with an 11-5 overall record. The Bulldogs are coming off a series win over UNC-Greensboro, winning the final two games of the series. Samford dropped the first game, 3-4, then closed the series with 8-2 and 10-1 victories.
Samford has a .307 team batting average, as Saxon Butler leads the team with a .435 batting average. C.K. Irby has a .414 batting average, and will be the starting pitcher on Wednesday night. Brandon Miller leads club with seven home runs and 24 RBI, while hitting .359 for the season. Zeth Stone chips in with a .373 average and Phillip Ervin is hitting .344. Irby will make his second start of the season on Wednesday night. He had a 2-0 record in six appearances, with a 1.23 ERA. He's allowed one earned run on two hits with two walks and eight strikeouts during his sophomore season.
In a series that began in 1894, Wednesday's game between Alabama and Samford will mark the 103rd meeting all-time between the two clubs. Alabama leads the all-time series 87-15, after the teams split the two games last season, with each team winning on the road. In the most recent game, the Tide defeated the Bulldogs 7-5 in Birmingham. Alabama is 1-4 in the last five games against Samford, and 4-6 in the last 10 meetings versus the Bulldogs. Head coach Mitch Gaspard is 1-3 all-time against Samford, will all four games coming in his two seasons at the Capstone.
Following a pair of midweek games, Alabama opens SEC play at No. 4 Arkansas this weekend. The series at Arkansas opens on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. from Baum Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. Game two is scheduled for 3 p.m., on Saturday and will be televised on CSS. The series finale begins at 1 p.m., on Sunday. All times are Central Standard Time.
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