Baseball Hosts No. 15 Southern Miss on Wednesday
3/6/2018 3:02:00 PM | Baseball
The Crimson Tide and Golden Eagles will meet for the 105th time in the history of the two programs when the two square off on Wednesday evening
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball will kick off an nine-game homestand on Wednesday evening at Sewell-Thomas Stadium when the Crimson Tide hosts 15th-ranked Southern Miss. The two teams are set for a 6 p.m. CT first pitch in the Tide's first night game on its midweek schedule. Wednesday's matchup will air live on SEC Network+ with the tandem of Eli Gold and Lance Cormier calling all the action.
Wednesday's contest with Southern Miss will feature a ceremonial first pitch from Alabama football head coach Nick Saban. The midweek matchup will also be the Crimson Tide's "Spring Break Night" at The Joe. Students will receive a free Hawaiian T-shirt, be entered for raffle prizes and can earn Greek points at the game.
FOLLOW THE TIDE
Fans can follow Wednesday's matchup via the below outlets:
Watch: SEC Network+
Listen: 102.9 FM / CTSN / TuneIn App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: RollTide.com
LEADING OFF
• Alabama and Southern Miss will meet for the 105th time in series history when the teams square off for a midweek matchup on Wednesday night.
• The Crimson Tide leads the all-time series with a 73-31 record. The first time the two programs met was when they played four games in nine days beginning on March 18, 1962. Alabama won the first two meetings in Tuscaloosa before traveling Hattiesburg, where the Tide fell in both games to the Golden Eagles. Â
• The most recent contest between the Crimson Tide and the Golden Eagles came last season on Feb. 22, with the Tide coming out on top for a 12-5 victory in the first midweek matchup of the 2017 campaign. Alabama has won the last three times the Golden Eagles have come to Tuscaloosa, including last season's game.
• Southern Miss comes to Tuscaloosa with an 8-3 overall record. The Golden Eagles began the season with a series sweep at home against then-No. 15 Mississippi State. USM followed with a midweek road loss to then-No. 20 South Alabama, 10-9, on Feb. 20. Southern Miss won its first two games against UT Martin before dropping the second game of the Saturday doubleheader, 13-10, on Feb. 24. The Golden Eagles then traveled for a midweek road matchup on Feb. 27, defeating New Orleans, 9-7.
•The Golden Eagles are coming off a weekend in which they went 2-1 in the Cox Diamond Invitational in Pensacola, Fla. USM began the tournament with a 9-4 win over Eastern Michigan before falling to Ohio State, 9-6, on Saturday. Southern Miss finished off the weekend with a strong 20-4 victory over Nicholls State on Sunday to close out tournament play.
• Alabama is scheduled to start redshirt freshman Garret Rukes in the midweek matchup with the Golden Eagles. Rukes, a left-hander, has made two starts so far this season, working 2.0 innings in each outing, and owns a 1-0 record with a 0.00 ERA.
• Southern Miss calls on sophomore right-hander Walker Powell in the Wednesday contest. Powell holds a 0-0 mark with a 6.43 ERA (5 ER/7.0 IP) in his two starts during the 2018 campaign.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
UA – Garret Rukes (R-Fr., LHP) vs. USM – Walker Powell (So., RHP)
SCOUTING ALABAMA
• Alabama finished the week at 3-2 overall, defeating Samford in Birmingham on Tuesday followed by a win over Alabama State in Tuscaloosa the next day. The Crimson Tide went 1-2 in Norman against Oklahoma over the weekend, winning the series finale in convincing fashion.
• The Crimson Tide fell to Oklahoma, 2-1, in extra innings on Friday evening. In a pitcher's duel, each team's starter provided its club with a quality start followed by a strong outing from the bullpen.
• Sam Finnerty tossed a career-long 8.0 innings and a career-high 102 pitches. The junior allowed one earned run on eight hits and two walks while punching out a pair. Kyle Cameron entered for the final 2.1 innings of relief, allowing one unearned run in the bottom of the 11th, which would prove the difference in the game.
• The Tide suffered a 16-4 defeat at the hands of Oklahoma on Saturday evening. The Sooners recorded 17 hits and nine walks on the way to 16 runs. The OU offense jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the first, followed by four in the fourth and two in the sixth. Oklahoma eventually put the game out of question with eight runs in the eighth to secure the win.
• Alabama erupted for a season-high 18 hits and 13 runs on the way to a 13-1 win over Oklahoma on Sunday. The Tide bats came up big in the middle innings, putting up three in the third, fifth and sixth with a four-run fourth sandwiched in between to account for UA's 13 total runs on the day. Over that stretch, the Tide offense collected 15 hits and three walks to put the game out of reach.
• Eleven of the 14 Alabama hitters collected at least one hit, including eight of nine starters. Six players on offense had multi-hit efforts, with Cobie Vance leading the team at 3-for-4. The junior added two RBI, a pair of runs scored and one walk. Both Cody Henry and Chandler Taylor contributed a home run and three RBI apiece. Henry registered a double and two runs scored in addition to his roundtripper, while Taylor contributed one run to go with his homer.
• The Crimson Tide pitching staff shined on Sunday. Sam Gardner earned his first career win at Alabama, tossing 5.0 innings of one-run baseball in the starting effort. Gardner allowed three hits and two walks while striking out a season-high five across his 85 pitches of work. The junior was followed by Davis Vainer, Deacon Medders and Dylan Duarte, with the threesome combining for 4.0 scoreless innings that included four punchouts.
• The Crimson Tide collected 14 hits on the way to 11 runs in Alabama's 11-1 win over Alabama State on Wednesday. With the win, UA moved to 9-0 on the season, the program's best start since 2002 when the Crimson Tide began the year 10-0 under head coach Jim Wells.
• Alabama's offense was highlighted by Hunter Alexander who finished his afternoon 3-for-4 with a team-high tying two RBI and two runs scored to go with a walk. Nine of the 11 Tide hitters registered at least one hit with the four players producing multi-hit games. On the mound, right-hander Mason Duke made his first career start for UA, tossing 5.0 scoreless innings of one-hit baseball and striking out seven across 60 pitches en route to his first win. Duke retired the final 11 batters he faced before turning the ball over to his bullpen.
• A six-run ninth highlighted the Crimson Tide's big scoring night as cruised to a 13-3 win over Samford on Tuesday. Alabama's offense finished with 10 hits and received multi-hit outings from its 4-5-6 hitters, with Taylor, Chandler Avant and Keith Holcombe collecting two hits apiece. Taylor finished 2-for-3 with both of hits being home runs, while the junior added a team-high four RBI and three runs scored. UA hitters also recorded seven walks on the night, three of which came with bases loaded, resulting in three runs scored.
• On the hill against the Bulldogs, Garret Rukes earned his first win of the 2018 campaign with 2.0 innings of scoreless work, allowing one hit and issuing a walk while striking out four Bulldog hitters. Rukes was followed by Brock Love, Connor Stutts, Medders and Duarte. The five pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts to match the season-high mark by the Alabama arms.
• Alabama returned 21 letterwinners while losing 11 from the 2017 squad. The 2018 Crimson Tide welcomed back eight positional starters and three starting pitchers while hosting 11 newcomers (including one transfer who sat out last season).
SCOUTING SOUTHERN MISS
• Southern Miss returned 22 letterwinners, including seven starting positional players and 11 pitchers, from the 2017 roster that finished 50-16 overall and first in the Conference USA standings with a 25-5 mark. USM was named an NCAA Regional host, going 2-2 in the postseason. The 2018 roster is without nine letterwinners from a season ago, made up of two starters in the field and six pitchers (two of which also hit), and welcomes 11 newcomers.
• The Golden Eagles were selected to finish atop Conference USA in the league's preseason poll, as voted on by the league coaches. USM also features the preseason Player of the Year in Matt Wallner and the preseason Pitcher of the Year in Nick Sandlin.
• Scott Berry is in his ninth year as head coach of the Golden Eagles. A 1986 graduate of Southwest Missouri State, Berry is assisted by Chad Caillet, Christina Ostrander and B.A. Vollmuth.
• The Southern Miss baseball program was founded in 1913 and held a 1,659-1,208-11 record across its first 104 seasons entering the 2018 campaign. The Golden Eagles have appeared in 15 NCAA postseasons, including one College World Series in 2009. Most recently, USM was selected as a NCAA Regional host in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, going 2-2 in the series.
• The University of Southern Mississippi is a public university located in Hattiesburg, Miss., and boasts an enrollment of 14,554 students. Founded on March 30, 1910, the university is a dual campus institution, with the main campus located in Hattiesburg. The other large campus, Gulf Park, is located in Long Beach, with five additional teaching and research sites.
ALABAMA VS. CONFERENCE USA
• The Crimson Tide hosts Southern Miss for the 105 meeting between the two cross-state foes. The midweek matchup will mark the 60th time the two programs have met in Tuscaloosa, with the Tide winning the last three in Tuscaloosa.
• Southern Miss' trip to the Capstone marks the second time this season that the Tide has faced off against a Conference USA opponent. Alabama shut out Middle Tennessee, 4-0, in the first midweek game of the 2018 campaign on Feb. 20.
• The Tide has met with 10 of the 12 current members of C-USA, compiling a 178-77 (.698) record against the conference. The Crimson Tide has never paired with Charlotte or UTSA.
• The Crimson Tide holds an advantage over nine of the 10 teams in C-USA which it has faced. The only team to one-up the Tide is Florida Atlantic, who are 5-4 in all-time against Alabama.
• UA has squared off with Southern Miss the most of any current member, maintaining a 73-31 (.702) mark against the Golden Eagles. The Tide also holds a 50-24 (.676) advantage over in-state foe, UAB, who has paired with Alabama the second most.
• Alabama holds a perfect record against Florida International (4-0), Marshall (3-0), Old Dominion (1-0) and Rice (2-0). The Tide is 12-2 (.857) against Louisiana Tech and 11-6 (.647) in games with Western Kentucky.
ON DECK
Next up for Alabama is a weekend series with New Mexico State from Friday through Sunday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The series opener is set for a 6 p.m. CT first pitch with game two of the weekend on Saturday scheduled for 2 p.m. The series finale is tabbed for a 1 p.m. CT start. All three games can be seen live on SEC Network+.
