Women’s Golf Finish Tied For Sixth At Chris Banister Golf Classic
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
South Alabama’s Carianne Wright carded a season-low 1-over par 73 to lead the Jaguar women’s golf team in the final round of the Chris Banister Golf Classic at Robert Trent Jones’ Lakes Golf Club in Glencoe, AL on Tuesday. She finished in the top 15 individually and helped the team to a tie for sixth place.
Wright shot 76-83-73 for a three round total of 232 for her first top-15 finish of the season.
Elisa Axelsen shot 77-76-81 to earn a top-20 finish with a three-round total of 234.
The Jags as a team shot 317-325-311 to finish tied for sixth with Belmont and UAB. Troy won the tournament with three round scores of 305-303-292 for a three day total of 900. Fatima Fern Cano earned medalist honors with a 1-over par 217 by shooting 75-70-72.
The Jags will travel to Daytona Beach, FL to compete in the 2014 LPGA International Xavier Tournament on October 10-12.
Jaguar Men’s Golf Sets Program Record With Four Academic Honorees
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
Staying on other sports than Football today, the South Alabama Men’s Golf team had a program-record four student-athletes earning Academic Honors on Wednesday. The Golf Coaches Association of America announced that four Jaguars earned Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars recognition.
Seniors Lane Hulse and Blake Kelley earned the honor for the second consecutive time while juniors Michael Garretson and Tyler Klava earned the award for the first time in their first season of eligibility. It also marks the sixth consecutive season the Jaguars have had at least one individual honored with the award.
Garretson earned the Sun Belt Conference Golfer of the Year back in April and was joined on the First-Team All-Conference squad by Klava with Hulse being chosen for the Second-Team All-SBC honors.
Klava ranked second in the conference with a 72.72 stroke average while Garretson was third with a 72.74 stroke average and Hulse was 15th with a 73.85 stroke average. Garretson, Hulse and Kelley each participated in 13 events this season while Klava participated in 12 after missing the opening tournament due to injury.
In order to be eligible for selection as a Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar, individuals must be a junior or senior academically and have competed in at least three full years at the collegiate leven and participated in 50% of their teams competitive rounds. In addition to posted a scoring average of below 76.0 at the NCAA Division I level, they must also maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher, be of high moral character and be in good standing at their college or university.
These four Jaguars were among 207 NCAA Division I student-athletes to be honored this season.
Three Women’s Golfers Named WGCA All-American Scholars
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
Three members of the South Alabama women’s golf team were named Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Division I All-American Scholars for the 2013-2014 academic year.
Ashleigh Ryals, Ingrid Hagen and Jordan Knight earned the honor by meeting the minimum GPA of 3.50 and participating in half of the team’s competitions on the season.
This is the third consecutive season that Ryals and Hagen have received the award and the first for Knight.
This is the ninth consecutive academic year that USA has placed three or more student-athletes on the WGCA Division I All-American Scholar Team. There have been thirteen different recipients that have been honored 36 times as WGCA All-American Scholars since the 2005-2006 academic year.
Ryals was a senior last season, Hagen was a junior and Knight was a reshirt sophomore.
Campbell Named To All-District Team; Hallford To Watch List; Golf Begin NCAA Play
USA Softball’s Hannah Campbell, a senior, became the first Jaguar softball student-athlete in program history to earn Capital One Academic All-District honors as announced on Tuesday by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The left-handed pitcher from Satsuma, Alabama earned first-team honors with a 3.47 GPA in Exercise Science which she just received her degree in.
She is currently ranked third in the nation in ERA with a 0.92 mark and walks allowed per seven innings (0.76) to lead the Jaguar pitching staff, which also leads the nation in overall ERA with a 1.28 mark.
She was drafted third overall in the 2014 National Pro Fastpitch Draft by the Akron Racers in March and will join them in August to become the first Jaguar softball player to move into the professional level and the first female student-athlete to be drafted professionally in program history.
First-team Academic All-District honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America ballot where first, second and third team All-America honorees will be chosen later this month.
District 4, the district that Campbell was selected to, includes the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.
USA Baseball’s Brandon Hallford was named to the 2014 Gregg Olson Award watch list on Tuesday.
The award is named after the former Auburn All-American right-hander and presented by Toolshed Sports is awarded annually to college baseball’s breakout player. Olson became one of the top collegiate players in the nation after an initial season filled with only mixed success then went on to become a two-time All American, a first round draft pick, American League Rookie of the Year and MLB All-Star.
Hallford is one of 80 student-athletes named to the initial watch list which will be narrowed down to a list of semifinalists on May 30. The winner of the award will be named in Omaha, Nebraska during the College World Series held June 15-26.
In 16 appearances this season, he has a 3-2 record with seven saves while striking out 27 with 15 walks in 36 innings pitched. He is tied for third in the Sun Belt Conference in saves on the season as the team enters the final regular-season series of the year.
The South Alabama Men’s golf team begin playing in the NCAA East Regional on Thursday in their second-consecutive NCAA appearance.
Last year Tyler Klava led the Jags at the NCAA Southeast Regional in Baton Rouge as he tied for sixth place individually and won a playoff on the first hole to advance to the NCAA Championship and finish in the top half of the field.
Both Lane Hulse and Blake Kelley tied for 17th place by shooting a 224 while Michael Garretson shot 230 over the three days. They propelled the Jaguars to a sixth place finish in the team standings and just two strokes off of a playoff for the final spot in the national championship.
Men’s Golf Earn Berth In NCAA Regional For Second Consecutive Season
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
The South Alabama Men’s Golf Team learned on Monday that they have earned a berth in the NCAA Regional Tournament for the second-consecutive season after earning an at-large bid.
The Jags will be seeded #9 among 13 other schools in the field of the NCAA Raleigh Regional. This is one of six regionals taking place nationally starting on Thursday, May 15. The top eight teams in the regional are among the top 50 nationally in the most recent Golfstat ratings.
The tournament will be held at Lonnie Poole Golf Course and will include, in order of seeding: 1. Georgia Tech, 2. Washington, 3. Florida State, 4. Texas A&M, 5. Mercer, 6. Kentucky, 7. Texas Tech, 8. Wake Forest, 9. South Alabama, 10. Memphis, 11. Minnesota, 12. Rice, 13. Bethune-Cookman.
There will also be 10 extra individuals competing: J.T. Poston (West Carolina), Evan Russell (Hartford), Franco Castro (UNC-Charlotte), Brandon Matthews (Temple), Richard Fountain (Davidson), Eric Brady (East Carolina), Andrew Dorn (Coastal Carolina), Ben Wheeler (Coastal Carolina), Sean Bosdosh (Maryland) and Zach Seabolt (Winthrop).
The top five schools and the individuals that finish highest not on those teams, will move on to compete in the NCAA Championships on May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas.
This season USA placed in the top three at six of their 12 tournament this season and finished at or below par as a team on three occasions.
This is South Alabama’s eighth all-time NCAA Regional appearance and the first time since 1994 and ’95 that they have qualified for it in consecutive seasons.
Three Jaguar Men’s Golfers Earn All-SBC Honors
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
Three Jaguar Men’s Golfers were earned Sun Belt Conference recognition for their season on Thursday.
Junior Michael Garretson was named the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Golfer of the Year. In addition, fellow junior Tyler Klava was named to the first-team All-Sun Belt team while senior Lane Hulse was named to the second-team All-Sun Belt Team.
This is the 24th consecutive year that USA has been represented by at least one All-Conference student-athlete.
Garretson from Acworth, Georgia led the Jags with nine top-20 finishes in 12 events this season. Seven of those were top-10 finishes. He also had a 72.61 stroke average that ranked second in the conference. In September, he was the SBC Golfer of the Month after tying for third in the Sam Hall Intercollegiate and tying for second one week later at the Columbia Regional Preview. Garretson was ninth at The Invitational at The Ocean Course and tied for ninth at the Samford Intercollegiate while helping the Jags finish second and first respectively at those events. His 6-under-par 65 and 8-under-par 205 at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate were the lowest 18 and 54-hole scores posted by a Jaguar this season.
This is the second consecutive season that Garretson was named to the first-team All-Conference team.
Klava from Pace, Florida also had a 72.61 scoring average and led the league by 0.005 of a point after recording top-10 finishes in each of the Jaguars’ last three events. He tied for second in the Sun Belt Championship with a 5-under-par 211 total for three rounds which was highlighted by a season-low 4-under 68 on the opening day of the tournament. He finished second on the team with five top-10 finishes and seven top-20 finishes with 16 rounds of par or better.
He is the third member of the program to earn All-SBC honors on at least three occasions under head coach Ben Hannan and joined Jonny Caldwell and Jack Hiluta in that honor.
Hulse from Fordyce, Arkansas posted a career low 73.75 stroke average which was third on the team and 14th in the conference. He posted three top-10 finishes, all this spring, and was in the top-20 on five occasions in his final season for the Jaguars. He led the Jags in its win at Samford while tying for second in the individual standings while his other top-10 results helped the Jags finish second at both the Memphis Intercollegiate and the SBC Championship.
He shot a low round of 2-under 69 at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate and a career-best 3-under 213 three-round total at the AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic in October.
Their efforts on the course have helped the Jaguars to finish in the top-three six times this season and to finish the season ranked 54th according to the most recent GolfStat rating.
Monday morning they will find out if they have received an invitation to play in the NCAA Regional.
USA Men’s Golf Fall One Stroke Shy In SBC Championships
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
The South Alabama Jaguars men’s golf team shot an 8-under par 280 as a group in the final round of the Sun Belt Championships to have the low round of the tournament and finish second in the team standings.
Senior Blake Kelley led the team with a season-best 4-under 68 with Lane Hulse and Tyler Klava both shooting 2-under 70’s. Ryan Pope added an even-par round of 72 while Michael Garretson shot a 74 as the Jags shot an even-par 864 over three days.
The Jags fell just one shot short of tying Georgia State, who shot a 287 on the final day and a three-day total of 863 to win the Sun Belt Conference Championship by one stroke. They also earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals next month.
Texas State’s Stuart Smallwood finished with a 54 hole score of 208 for an 8-under total to take the top spot in the individuals. Klava finished tied for second, three strokes behind while Hulse also recorded a top-10 finish with a tie for 10th. Kelley finished tied for 14th with a three-round score of 220.
The 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship selections will be announced live via the Golf Channel on Monday, May 5 from 9-10 CDT during the Morning Drive. She show will also be streamed online on the Golf Channel website and will then be posted on the NCAA website.
Hulse Leads USA In Second Round at SBC Championships
Photo: Mike Kittrell al.com
The second round of the Sun Belt Conference men’s golf championships is in the books and the third and final round is today to determine the champions.
Yesterday Lane Hulse led the Jaguars with a 1-under par 71 while Michael Garretson carded an even-par 72 after the two combined to shoot 9-over par in Monday’s first round. Tyler Klava shot a 1-over 73, Ryan Pope improved four strokes over his first round with a 3-over 75, and Blake Kelley shot an 80 as the Jaguar team posted a 291 team score for a 36 hole score of 584.
USA is still in third place trailing Georgia State by eight strokes and also trailing second place Texas-Arlington by six strokes.
Klava continues to lead the Jaguars in the individual with a 3-under par 141 through two rounds. He continues to be tied for third place among the 50 individuals in the field. Through 12 holes on Tuesday he was sitting at 3-over with only one birdie so far coming on the 3rd hole. But he closed the round with three birdies including back-to-back birdies at holes 13 and 14.
Garretson began with two pars before making birdie at the third. Two holes later he would go to 3-under with an eagle at the 5th. He would make the turn at 2-under with birdies coming on the 10th and 15th holes.
Texas State’s Stuart Smallwood carded another 4-under round for a two-day total 8-under par for the championship. He leads the pack by four shots.
The third and final round gets underway at 7:30am today.
Tyler Klava Tied For Individual Lead At SBC Championships After First Round
The Junior shot a 4-under par 68 in the opening round to tie for the lead. He shot 6-under on the par 5’s with two birdies and two eagles. | Photo: usajaguars.com
After shooting an opening round 4-under-par 68 on the opening day of the Sun Belt Championships, Tyler Klava is tied for the individual lead and helping the Jaguars to a third place standing as a team.
Klava was 6-under on the par-five holes at Grand Bear Golf Club, a 7,072-yard par-72 course in Saucier, Mississippi. He carded birdies on holes 2 and 5 and eagled holes 11 and 15.
Blake Kelley shot an even-par 72 as the Jaguars stand at 5-over-par 293 group score. Texas-Arlington leads the after shooting a 2-under 286 while Georgia State finished the first round with an even-par 288.
Lane Hulse shot 1-under on the back nine to shoot a 76 on the day. He had a boey and a double bogey on the front nine.
Michael Garretson shot a 79 with two of his three birdies on the day coming on the back nine on holes 11 and 15.
Stuart Smallwood of Texas State is tied with Klava for the lead in the individual standings with two of his three birdies on the day coming on the back nine. Klava and Smallwood were two of the nine golfers out of the 50 in the field to finish under par on the day.
Day two will get underway at 8am this morning with spit tees. The Jags will begin play at 8:45am on the first hold alongside Georgia State for the second day in a row and they will be joined by Texas-Arlington as well.
South Alabama Sports – Weekend Review
Baseball
After capturing the opening game, the Jags fell in the next two games as Western Kentucky won the series two games to one.
In game one the Jags overcame a three-run deficit over the final three innings to earn a 13-10 win over the Hilltoppers.
The Jags opened up with one run in the top of the first inning. WKU answered in the bottom of the first inning with two runs to take the lead. USA would regain the lead two two runs in the fourth inning.
WKU would retake the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to go ahead 5-3. WKU would add another run in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 6-3 lead.
Then the Jags would shave a run off of the Hilltopper lead with a run in the top of the seventh inning. Three more runs in the top of the eighth would put the Jags ahead 7-6 going into the final frame.
The top of the ninth saw the Jags explode for six runs to go up 13-6, but Western Kentucky would not give up as they plated four runs in the bottom of the ninth before the Jags finally ended the game.
In game two WKU would even the series after they scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 7-2 win over the Jaguars.
Righty Kevin Hill would throw 6 1/3 innings and only allowed four hits before WKU finally put their first run on the board.
The Jags fell in the final game on Sunday 6-3 as WKU clinched the series with a 6-3 win over USA. With the game tied at 2-2, WKU would break the tie in the bottom of the sixth with a pair of runs.
The Jags fell to 17-22 overall and 7-10 in Conference play. They will return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Auburn for a midweek game.
Softball
The 19th ranked Jaguars run-ruled Georgia State 8-0 in five innings in the first game on Friday. Freshman Amanda Minahan went 2-for-3 with three RBI, a walk and a run scored. That was her fourth game of the season where she recorded three-RBI in a game. Junior catcher Alex Breeden also went 2-for-3 with one RBI.
In game two, the opening game of a double-header on Saturday, the Jags fell to the Panthers 2-1. USA was outhit 5-4 in the game. But the bizarre thing about the game was starter Farish Beard being called for eight, yes eight, illegal pitches in the first inning by the first base umpire. That led to the Panthers only two runs of the game as each illegal pitch advanced the runners a base. Hannah Campbell came in for relief and shut down the Panthers but the damage was already done as the Jags could only muster one run the rest of the game.
In game three, the Jags and Panthers were scoreless through the first five innings before both teams scored a run in the sixth inning to keep the tie game going into extra innings. But in the bottom of the ninth inning Minahan walked and Emily Messer singled to set up Stephanie Pilkington to hit a two-out single to the left center gap to score Minahan to end the game with a 2-1 win.
They will travel to Baton Rouge to face LSU on Wednesday for their final non-conference game of the season.
Men’s Golf
The Jaguar Men’s Golf Team will play in the Sun Belt Conference Championships beginning on Monday in Saucier, Mississippi. They have a pair of top-5 finishes as they head into the championships and have shot par or better four times in the last three events.
The will get underway at Grand Bear Golf Course Monday as Michael Garretson has recorded five rounds of par or lower in his last three outings including a 6-under 66 to open the LInger Longer Invitational on March 22. He enters with a 72.45 stroke average to lead the Jaguar team. Fellow junior Tyler Klava enters with a stroke average of 72.83, which is fourth in the conference.
Men’s Tennis
The 2nd seeded Jaguar men’s tennis team fell to top-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette in the finals of the Sun Belt Championships on Sunday. The Jags defeated 3rd seeded Georgia State 4-0 on Saturday to advance to the finals.
Women’s Tennis
The lady Jags fell in the Sun Belt Conference finals to top-seeded Georgia State 4-1 as their run for the Conference crown ended. The Panthers will claim the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as the Jags season likely ends with a 16-3 mark.