#22 Jags Softball Sweep Georgia Southern; Baseball Wins 4th Straight SBC Series
Softball
The #22 ranked Jaguar softball team completed another weekend sweep of a Sun Belt Conference opponent.
In Saturday’s doubleheader against Georgia Southern, the Jaguars won the two games by a combined scored of 18-0 and the entire weekend series by a combined score of 25-2 after a rain-shortened game on Sunday.
USA scored all their runs in the first game in two innings against Georgia Southern. In the third inning the Jaguars let loose with four runs, then in the sixth they added three more runs.
Emily Messer led off the bottom of the third inning with a single to third base and advanced to second after the throw first sailed wide. Kristian Foster doubled to right field to put two Jaguars in scoring position. Stephanie Pilkington took advantage by lifting a sacrifice fly to left field to plate the Jaguars first run. Kaitlyn Griffith also hit a sac fly to center, which doubled the Jaguar lead.
Chloe Rathburn had a base hit to set up sophomore center fielder Amanda Minahan to double the lead with her fourth home run of the season.
In the bottom of the sixth, Blair Johnson hit a one-out solo home run to right field to put the Jags up 5-0. Alyssa Linn got on with a single anf followed by Messer’s double which set up Foster to drive in both runners with a single down the right fielder line for the 7-0 advantage.
Kalen McGill (13-1) earned her second complete-game victory as she struck out two and scattered five hits with no walks.
Messer went 3-for-4 with two runs scored to lead the Jags. Foster went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Minahan finished with two RBI and a run scored.
In game two the Jags scored 11 runs in the first three innings, five runs each in the first and third innings for their seventh run-rule victory of the season. Farish Beard also threw her third career no-hitter and the 12th in program history.
In the bottom of the first Messer led off with a single, followed by Foster which allowed Griffith to lift her second sacrifice fly of the day to left center to score a run. Rathburn singled to right center to double the lead to 2-0. Minahan drew a walk and Johnson was hit by a pitch to load the bases for senior first baseman Amanda Herron, who also drew a walk to make it 3-0 Jaguars.
Linn finished off the scoring in the first inning with a two-out two-run single to right field putting the Jags up 5-0 at the time.
In the bottom of the second, Stephanie Pilkington hit a one-out single up the middle and went on to score on Rathburn’s double for a 6-0 Jaguar lead.
In the bottom of the third inning, Johnson drew a leadoff walk. Linn gathered her third RBI of the game when she grounded out but scored Johnson. Gwen Jones would pinch run for Herron who got on base with a single, and score on Messer’s single through the right side of the infield to make it 8-0.
Pilkington’s single would score Messer and Griffith would hit her third sacrifice fly of the day to score Foster. Finally Pilkington would score on a throwing error after Rathburn put the ball into play for the 11-0 score.
Beard would end with 10 strikeouts with only two walks in her no-hit effort.
Messer finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Pilkington finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Rathburn went 2-for-3 with one run scored and two RBI while Herron finished 2-for-2 with an RBI.
The Sunday finale was rain-shortened but ended with another Jaguar win by the score of 7-2 in five innings.
Beard was credited with the win in 3 1/3 innings pitched and Kalen McGill picked up the her fourth save of the year.
It was Georgia Southern who jumped out to the early lead by scoring two runs in the first inning. But the Jags would respond with seven unanswered runs before heavy rains moved into the area.
In the bottom of the first, Messer led off with a hard hit down the left field line and raced around the bags to score an inside-the-park home run for the Jags first run. Kristian Foster walked and was pinch ran for by Kaleigh Todd. Griffith drove in Todd with a double to left field to tie the game.
Rathburn singled to left to score Griffith from third base after she stole the base a little earlier.
In the fourth inning the Jags scored three more runs beginning with Messer scoring from third base on a wild pitch. Griffith then followed with her seventh home run in the last 10 games to also bring home Stephanie Pilkington.
In the bottom of the fifth Herron started with a single up the middle, followed by Messer drawing a walk and Foster being hit by a pitch then Pilkington drew a walk to score the Jags final run of the game before the rain delay took effect.
Beard struck out two to three walks and allowed two earned runs on two hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Griffith went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBI to lead the Jags. Messer went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Pilkington went 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored.
The Jags will travel to Starkville to face Mississippi State on Wednesday with an 8pm first pitch.
Baseball
The Jags won their fourth consecutive Sun Belt Series with a 9-2 win in the first game and a 10-3 clincher on Sunday after dropping the game on Saturday 6-5.
The Jags will travel to Thibodaux, LA to face Nicholls State on Tuesday before travelling to the University of Evansville for a three game series over the weekend as they step out of conference play.