Baseball Hosts No. 17 Mississippi for Three This Weekend
3/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 22, 2012
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama returns to Southeastern Conference play on Friday, with game one of a three-game series against No. 17 Mississippi. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. (CDT), from Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Game two of the series is scheduled for 2:05 p.m., on Saturday, and the series finale will begin at 1:05 p.m., on Sunday.
All games for the 2012 season will be broadcast on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. All three games of the series with Mississippi can be heard on WFFN-FM 95.3. Chris Stewart and Lee Tracey will provide the radio commentary for all three games. Audio and video, along with live stats will be available at RollTide.com.
Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Charley Sullivan (Jr., RHP) 2-2 3.07 5/5 29.1 28 10 10 7 18
OM-Bobby Wahl (So, RHP) 4-0 1.55 5/5 29.0 21 10 5 10 34
Saturday W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Justin Kamplain (Fr., LHP) 1-1 2.53 6/4 21.1 16 12 6 17 20
OM-R.J. Hively (Sr., RHP) 3-1 1.88 5/5 28.2 25 12 6 6 33
Sunday W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Jon Keller (Fr., LHP) 0-0 3.38 10/1 16.0 14 6 6 5 7
OM-Mike Mayers (So., RHP) 2-2 3.34 5/4 29.2 21 11 11 8 23
Following a 9-0 loss at Troy on Tuesday night, the Crimson Tide is 8-13 overall. UA is 0-3 in SEC play after opening conference play with three losses at No. 4 Arkansas, last weekend. Mississippi (15-6, 1-2 SEC) has dropped its last three games. Alabama enters the series with Mississippi with a .242 team batting average, while the pitching staff has a 4.73 ERA.
For the Tide, freshman catcher/outfielder Ben Moore is hitting .315 with a team-high 13 runs scored, to go along with five doubles, a triple, a home run and nine RBI. James Tullidge has started the last three games for UA, and has a .429 average (3-for-7) with a double in those games. Taylor Dugas is hitting .303 for the season and leads the team with seven doubles and 13 runs scored. After being hit by a pitch on Tuesday night, Dugas has reached base in all 21 games this season. Including the last 12 of the 2011 season, he's reached base safely in the last 33 games.
In its most recent game, Alabama collected just four hits in a 9-0 loss at Troy on Tuesday night. After three scoreless innings, the Trojans put eight runs on the board over the middle three innings. Troy capitalized on three walks and two errors by the Tide in the fourth, scoring four times in the inning while getting just one hit in the frame. UA starter Jon Keller threw three scoreless innings in his first career start at Alabama. In five innings, the Alabama bullpen allowed nine runs (six earned) on 10 hits with six walks and six strikeouts.
Mississippi enters the SEC series with a 15-6 overall record, following a 1-2 start to open conference play. Mississippi is coming off a 10-0 loss at home to Southern Mississippi on Tuesday night. The Rebels are ranked No. 17 by Baseball America, No. 19 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 20 by the NCBWA, and No. 26 by Collegiate Baseball. Mississippi is hitting .308 as a team, while averaging 7.3 runs and 10.5 hits per game. The pitching staff is holding opponents to a .235 batting average with a 2.94 ERA. The Rebels are allowing 3.7 runs and 7.8 hits per game.
Second baseman Alex Yarbrough leads the team and is third in the SEC with a .410 batting average He also leads the team with 22 runs and is second with three home runs and 25 RBI. First baseman Matt Snyder is second on the team with a .382 average, and leads the club with 10 doubles and is third with 20 RBI. Zach Kirksey leads the team with eight home runs and 31 RBI, while hitting .347.
In a series that dates back to 1895, the three games between Alabama and Mississippi will be games 335-337 of the all-time series. After the Tide posted a 2-1 record against the Rebels last season, Alabama holds a 197-136-1 advantage in the series all-time. Alabama has won the last two series between the two schools, and has won four of the last five meetings overall. UA is 4-1 in the last five games, 5-5 in the last 10 meetings, and 8-7 in the last 15 games played between the two schools. UA head coach Mitch Gaspard is 6-3 all-time against Mississippi, including a 4-2 record in two years at Alabama.
Heading into this weekend, Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard has coached 499 Division I games in his career. Friday's game against Mississippi will mark coach Gaspard's 500th career Division I game coached. Sunday's game at Arkansas marked the 150th for Gaspard as the head coach at Alabama. Gaspard is 85-66 in three years at UA. Gaspard coached 348 games at Northwestern State (2002-07), where he posted a 210-138 record.
Following the second week of SEC play, Alabama will play four road games next week. UA opens the week at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., against the UAB Blazers on Tuesday, March 27. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The Tide returns to SEC play when it travels to Knoxville, Tenn., to take on the Tennessee Volunteers for a three-game set. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 5 p.m., game two on Saturday will be televised on CSS and starts at noon and Sunday's game will begin at 1 p.m. All times at Tennessee are Central Daylight Time.
