Jags Place Four On Preseason SBC Team
The new secondary Sun Belt Conference logo that will begin being used on July 1, 2013.
South Alabama placed three student-athletes on the preseason All-Sun Belt Conference team that was announced on Monday during the annual Football Media Day. Also, during Media Day the head coaches took part in a preseason poll which selected the Jaguars to finish seventh out of the eight football teams this season.
Wes Saxton was selected to the All-Sun Belt team at tight end. Alex Page was also selected on the defensive line with Tyrell Pearson selected in the secondary. All three where selected by the SBC head coaches and selected members of the media.
Page was also selected to the Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List. He was a second-team All-Conference selection last season after totalling 64 tackles with 11.5 of them for loss. His six sacks set a school record.
Pearson ranked in the top five in the SBC in both passes defended and interceptions. He led the Jags with four interceptions and 11 passes broken up in his first season with the team. He was credited with 40 tackles with three of them for loss. He had a career best six tackles in the Jags first road game of the season last year at North Carolina State.
Saxton finished his first season on the team with 26 catches for 336 yards and a touchdown. He was one of the top five on the team in both catches and receiving yards. Seventeen of his catches came in conference games with seven of them against Louisiana-Lafayette for 83 yards in the conference schedule finale. He led the team in receiving yards against FIU with 92 yards on six catches, against N.C. State with 72 yards on four catches. His first and only touchdown of the season came in the season finale at Hawaii.
The Jags were selected to finish seventh in the conference behind Texas State and ahead of Georgia State, all three newcomers to the conference. Louisiana-Lafayette and Lousiana-Monroe tied for first place with 57 points, ULL had four first place votes while ULM had two.
T-1. ULL
T-1. ULM
3. Arkansas State
4. WKU
5. Troy
6. Texas State
7. South Alabama
8. Georgia State
2013 Sun Belt Conference Media Day Today
Sun Belt Conference Media Day will be held today in New Orleans. ESPN3 and the SBC has partnered together for the second consecutive year to bring the SBC Media Day live to viewers.
Media Day will begin at 1pm CST and will include interviews from all eight conference coaches and an interview with SBC Commissioner Karl Benson. Also, there will be interviews with four future SBC head coaches that are expected to enter the conference on July 1, 2014. Paul Petrino of Idaho, Doug Martin of New Mexico State, Jeff Monken of Georgia Southern and Scott Satterfield of Appalachian State will be representing the future SBC members.
Cole Wright will serve as the host for the event and Sun Belt Network football commentator Cole Cubelic will be the shows analyst.
Four teams have left the conference this season while two new schools have joined the conference. This season will see South Alabama, Arkansas State, Georgia State, Troy, UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette, Texas State and Western Kentucky competing in the new Sun Belt.
The interview schedule is as follows:
- 1:00pm – SBC Commissioner Karl Benson
- 1:10pm – ULL Head Coach Mark Hudspeth
- 1:20pm – South Alabama head coach Joey Jones
- 1:28pm – Western Kentucky head coach Bobby Petrino
- 1:38pm – Idaho head coach Paul Petrino
- 1:45pm – New Mexico State head coach Doug Martin
- 1:52pm – Georgia State head coach Trent Miles
- 2:00pm – ULL head coach Todd Berry
- 2:10pm – Arkansas State head coach Bryan Harsin
- 2:20pm – Troy Head Coach Larry Blakeney
- 2:30pm – Texas State head coach Dennis Franchione
- 2:40pm – Georgia Southern head coach Jeff Monken
- 2:47pm – Appalachian State head coach Scott Satterfield
ESPN3 is ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network. It delivers thousands of global sports events annually and accessible online via WatchESPN.com and ESPN3.com. It is also available to view on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app. It is available to more than 86 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive high-speed internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. It is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million US college students and US-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.
Happy 4th of July
Photo of the Moulton Tower dedication Friday Oct. 8, 2010. | Photo credit Press-Register/Victor Calhoun
Today marks the 237th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. This holiday is celebrated on July 4th to honor the date when the delegates agreed, after two days of debate, on the wording of Thomas Jefferson’s text.
The Declaration was signed by a majority of the 56 delegates a month later on August 2, 1776.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” the final edition of the Declaration read.
Those poetic words were enough to spark a riot in New York. When the future George Washington read the words from a copy of the Declaration that had it to the city on July 9, the cheering crowd at City Hall would proceed to dismantle a statue of King George III. The metal from it would later be used to make about 42,000 musket balls for the Continental Army.
Happy Independence Day America. May we forever be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Have a happy and safe 4th of July Jaguar Nation.
Former Lady Jag Head Coach Lands At Jacksonville State
Jacksonville State University has hired another former South Alabama coach for their sports program. Rick Pietri was named the women’s head basketball coach by JSU athletic director Warren Koegel on Monday.
Pietri was the head coach at South Alabama for 13 seasons and turned the Lady Jaguar team into a contender in the Sun Belt Conference. He led the team to back-to-back Sun Belt West Division titles in 2003 and 2004.
The Jags made consecutive WNIT postseason appearances in 2003 and 2004 and is the all-time winningest coach in Lady Jaguars history with a career record of 220-167. Prior to Pietri’s arrival, the Lady Jags had posted 10 consecutive losing seasons.
In Pietri’s first season in the 2000-01 season the Jags posted and improved 13-16 record and was the most by the program in over 10 years and was just two wins fewer than the 15 wins combined over the previous two seasons. In his second season, the Lady Jags started out 16-5 in its first 21 games of the season while posting the first winning season since the 1989-90 season with a 17-11 record. Then the third season the Lady Jags finished 22-7 after opening the season 14-1 to win the division championship for the second consecutive year.
The Lady Jags had a 130-54 record overall at home. He led the Lady Jags to a winning season in five of his last six seasons at South Alabama.
Pietri is a South Alabama Alum and began his collegiate coaching career as a men’s assistant at Spring Hill College for four season from 1989 through 1993. He then joined Duane Reboul’s staff at Birmingham Southern for 1993-94. He began his head coaching career as the boys’ coach at B.C. Rain High School from 1994-98 where he went 106-32 over four seasons and making four consecutive final four appearances and earning 5A Coach of the Year honors in 1998. He then spent two seasons coaching the boys at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile before becoming the head coach at South Alabama in April of 2000.
Pietri takes over a team that finished just 1-27 overall and 1-15 in their conference last season.
Back in December, JSU announced the hiring of former South Alabama defensive coordinator Bill Clark as their head football coach. Clark brought Duwan Walker with his to be his defensive coordinator and also hired former South Alabama assistant coach Chuck Dunn to coach the inside linebackers and to serve as the Strength and conditioning coach.
Melvin Meggs To Miss 2013 Season; First Three Kickoff Times Announced
Shaun Artz (73) and Melvin Meggs (77) practice run blocking during the preseason camp in 2012. Meggs will miss the 2013 season with a torn ACL.
South Alabama’s most experienced offensive lineman, Melvin Meggs, will miss the 2013 season due to a torn ACL suffered in offseason workouts head coach Joey Jones announced on Monday.
Meggs, a 6’3″ 310-pound junior from Petal, Mississippi, had been earning plenty of preseason attention as the 2013 season approached but will miss entire season with his injury.
Meggs came to South Alabama from Petal High School and signed with the Jaguars when they were unclassified by the NCAA. Thus he had the opportunity to play all five seasons, including what is considered his redshirt season. Which means he cannot claim the 2013 season as a redshirt season, however he will be able to return for his senior season in 2014.
Meggs was credited with 76 knockdown blocks and graded 90 percent or better in six of the Jaguars 13 games last season including a 94 percent grade against Middle Tennessee State.
Meggs was one of two offensive players who started all 13 games last season. He was on the field for all but 15 of the Jaguars’ 938 offensive plays while only allowing one sack. He was not called for a holding or false start penalty all season.
Coach Jones said that losing an experienced player on offense will be a tough blow. But his surgery went well and is expected to be ready in six months. Though they never want to lose an experienced player like Melvin, Jones did say that they have more depth than the program has ever had in it’s short history. He said most of that depth is coming from the Jaguars redshirt freshmen class.
Additionally, Clay Machen will miss about four weeks with surgery to correct a torn meniscus but will be ready when camp begins this summer.
The University announced kickoff times for the first three contests late last week. The Jags season opener against Southern Utah will kick off on Thursday, August 29 at 6:30pm. The Jags road game in New Orleans on September 7 will kick off at 2:30pm and the Jags first Sun Belt Conference game of the season on September 14 against Western Kentucky will kick off at 6:30pm.
They did not announce if any of the first three games will be available on television. The kickoff times for remaining nine games of the 2013 schedule will be announced at a later date.
Four Jags Selected In MLB Draft
The University of South Alabama baseball program had four players selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft over the weekend.
On the second day of the draft the Colorado Rockies chose Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Jordan Patterson with the third pick of the fourth round, the 109th pick overall. Kyle Bartsch was chosen by the Kansas City Royals with the eighth pick of the seventh round, which was the 204th overall pick.
Dylan Stamey was chosen by the Colorado Rockies with the third pick of the 14th round, the 409th pick overall. Also Nolan Earley was selected in the 22nd round by the Chicago White Sox for the 663rd pick overall.
Patterson was named to the first-team all-conference team as a utility player this spring. He was sixth in the Sun Belt with a .352 batting average. He collected 82 hits, 25 doubles, 69 runs scored and 49 RBI. The junior from Mobile was walked 41 times and hit by a pitch 21 times. He also had a .485 on-base percentage to lead the conference and was tied for the conference lead in doubles while finishing second in runs.
Patterson also earned a 1.84 ERA on the mound with two saves and 17 strikeouts with only six walks in 14 2/3 innings pitched. Patterson is the highest Jaguar selection since Adam Lind was selected in the third round in 2004.
Bartsch, a Hurst, Texas native, had a 3-0 record with 12 saves and a 3.12 ERA in 22 appearances this past season, all in relief. He was voted to the Second-team All-SBC team as he struck out 35 batters in 26 innings of work. He only walked 11 and held opponents to only a .189 batting average.
Bartsch finished second in the conference in saves while tying the school record in the category that was originally set by former All-American Mike Nakamura in 1998. He is the first Jaguar in program history to earn 10 or more saves in back-to-back seasons. He leaves the program as the all-time leader with 22 saves in two seasons.
Stamey made 24 appearances in relief as he went 5-2 with a 2.17 ERA and four saves. He struck out 62 batters and walked only nine. He finished second on the team in strikeouts with only 37 1/3 innings of work. He held opponents to a .209 batting average in his junior season, his first with the Jaguars.
Earley, a senior last season from Anderson, Indiana, led the Jags with 59 RBI with a .323 batting average with 19 doubles and 50 runs scored. He finished second on the team with 76 base hits and had a .411 on-base percentage with 36 walks. He was fourth in the Sun Belt Conference in RBI and among the top 10 in doubles.
The Jags finished 43-20 overall and 20-10 in Sun Belt play on the season and advanced to the NCAA Regional for the first time since 2004.
Jags Prepare To Open Regional Play In Starkville At 2pm Friday
The University of South Alabama baseball team prepares to open play in the 2013 NCAA Starkville Regional today at 2pm. The Jags, a #2 seed, will open against #3 seed Mercer at Dudy Noble Field on the campus of Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi.
Senior Anthony Izzio (3-0) will get the start for the Jags against Mercer. He has three consecutive wins in his last three outings, one of them a start. He has only allowed two runs in the last 19 2/3 innings with 12 strikeouts and two walks.
Mercer (43-16) will start Brandon Barker (7-1) with a 2.35 ERA with 78 strikeouts and 26 walks in 84 1/3 innings pitched. He is also holding opponents to a .251 batting average against him.
All-time the Jags are 34-48 in NCAA Regionals with its 25th appearance this season, it’s first since 2006. The Jags also hold a 6-2 advantage over Mercer all-time with their last game a Jaguar win at Eddie Stanky Field to open the 2009 season. This will be their first time to face each other in postseason play.
South Alabama enters the Regionals ranked 27th in this week’s Collegiate Baseball poll. As they prepare to open play, they come into the game with a .301 batting average and a 4.21 ERA. While Jeff DeBlieux leads the nation with 10 triples while hitting .407 with four doubles, five triples, two home runs, 11 RBI during his current 14 game hitting streak.
Mercer enters the game with a team batting average of .301 and a 4.06 ERA. Chesny Young leads the team with a .394 batting average, 100 hits, three triples and an on-base percentage of .453. They are the regular season champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 20-7 conference record.
The Starkville Regional is probably one of, if not the toughest regional of the 16 regional sites in the nation.
Along with being broadcast on 105.5 FM WNSP in the Mobile area and online on thier website http://wnsp.com/ the game can be viewed through ESPN3.com.
Jaguar Softball’s Hannah Campbell Becomes Program’s First All-American Selection
Hannah Campbell became the first USA Softball player to be selected as an All-American | usajaguars.com
On Wednesday, Hannah Campbell became the first South Alabama Jaguar to be named as an All-American. She was named to the second team of the 2013 National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association Division I All-American team.
Campbell earned NFCA First-Team All-South Region honors just two weeks ago. She was also named to the First-Team All-Sun Belt Conference team and the SBC Tournament MVP among other honors.
She finished the season with a 22-9 record and a 1.08 ERA. She struck out 168 batters in 207 2/3 innings pitched with 10 solo shutouts. She limited her opposition to a mere batting average of .184. She also set a new Jaguar record for saves in a single season with six.
Campbell hails from Satsuma, Alabama.
NFCA Division I All-American Teams
First Team
P Keilani Ricketts, Oklahoma
P Blaire Luna, Texas
P Hannah Rogers, Florida
C Amber Freeman, Arizona State
1B Lauren Chamberlain, Oklahoma
2B Lauren Gibson, Tennessee
3B Raven Chavanne, Tennessee
SS Madison Shipman, Tennessee
OF Janie Takeda, Oregon
OF Cassidy Bell, Penn State
OF Kayla Braud, Alabama
UT/P Kaitlin Inglesby, Washington
UT/Non-P or DP Alexa Peterson, Oregon
At-Large/P Chelsea Thomas, Missouri
At-Large/UT-P Lauren Haeger, Florida
At-Large/3B Taylor Hoagland, Texas
At-Large/P Rachele Fico, LSU
At-Large/P Jessica Moore, Oregon
Second Team
P Olivia Galati, Hofstra
P Dallas Escobedo, Arizona State
P Jolene Henderson, UC-Berkeley
C Megan Baltzell, Longwood
1B Alicja Wolny, Louisville
2B Katie Keller, Louisville
3B Shelby Pendley, Oklahoma
SS Cheyenne Coyle, Arizona State
OF Haylie McCleney, Alabama
OF B.B. Bates, UCLA
OF Brianna Turang, Oklahoma
UT/P Tatum Edwards, Nebraska
UT/Non-P or DP Cali Lanphear, Texas A&M
At-Large/SS Sierra Romero, Michigan
At-Large/2B Kaila Hunt, Alabama
At-Large/OF Emilee Koerner, Notre Dame
At-Large/OF Brianna Cherry, ULL
At-Large/P Hannah Campbell, South Alabama
Third Team
P Kaia Parnaby, Hawaii
P Aimee Creger, Tulsa
P Lacey Waldrop, Florida State
C Sarah Draheim, ULL
1B Geri Ann Glasco, Georgia
2B Kaylan Howard, Oregon
3B Kaitlyn Richardson, Minnesota
SS Taylor Thom, Texas
OF Tomeka Watson, Elon
OF Maggie Hull, Kansas
OF A.J. Andrews, LSU
UT/P Jackie Traina, Alabama
UT/Non-P or DP Brooke Short, Longwood
At-Large/P Sara Nevins, South Florida
At-Large/OF Jennifer Gilbert, Ball State
At-Large/C Stephanie Pasquale, Temple
At-Large/2B Ashley Lane, Michigan
At-Large/UT-P Mel Dumezich, Texas A&M
USA Travels To Starkville For First NCAA Regional Tournament Since 2006
There wasn’t any doubt that the South Alabama baseball team was going to make the field of 64 teams for the NCAA Tournament, their first since 2006. But there was hope that the Jags would be hosting a Regional in Mobile. Unfortunately those hopes did not come to fruition on Sunday when the regional locations were announced.
However the Jags will be playing just up the road in Starkville, MS regional as a #2 seed. They will be joined by the host and #1 seed Mississippi State, #3 seed Mercer and #4 seed Central Arkansas.
The Jags ended the regular season as co-champions of the Sun Belt with in-state rival Troy University with a 42-18 record. They were eliminated from the Sun Belt Tournament short of their goal of reaching the championship game, but they will now get ready to face #3 Mercer of the Atlantic Sun Conference at 2pm on Friday. Top seeded MSU will face Central Arkansas at 7pm on Friday. They defeated the Bulldogs earlier in the season.
Single Game tickets are $15 for reserved and $10 for general admission and will be available on Friday, May 31 at noon. All-Tournament passes are $90 for reserved and $50 for general admission and will go on sale Wednesday, May 29 at 8am.
The Jags fell to Mississippi State earlier this season in a close game.
Jags Vs ULL Postponed Until 12:30 Today
South Alabama’s second round game against Louisiana-Lafayette was postponed last night due to inclement weather in the Lafayette area. The game prior between Troy and FAU was suspended in the top of the ninth inning as well.
The Jags and Ragin’ Cajuns have been rescheduled for 12:30pm on today.