Jags Defeat UALR In First Round Of SBC Tournament
South Alabama defeated 7th seeded UALR 10-2 on Wednesday to advance in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Anthony Izzio went a career-high eight innings while scattering eight hits and just two runs. He struck out three with only one walk for his third win of the season.
Brandon Boyle threw one shutout inning in relief.
A total of five Jaguars recorded multiple hits in the win. Jordan Patterson led the way by going 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Jeff DeBlieux, Nick Zaharion, Bud Collura and Robby Campbell were the others to record multiple hits.
Jags got on the board early by taking a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after Patterson and Zaharion both hit RBI singles. Patterson would score later in the inning on a fielder’s choice by Dustin Dalken. Later Dorsey would deliver a sac fly to right-center.
The #2 seeded Jaguars will face tournament host Louisiana-Lafayette at 7:30pm on Thursday in a winner’s bracket game. ULL defeated FIU on Wednesday evening 9-6 to advance.
Jaguar Football Away Tickets On Sale Today
South Paw watches warmups at Davis-Wade Stadium in Starkville, MS in 2012.
South Alabama Athletic ticket office announced on Wednesday that road game tickets will go on sale to the general public on Thursday morning.
2013 South Alabama Football Road Ticket Prices
- Tulane (Sept.7) – $35
- Tennessee (Sept. 28) – $45
- Troy (Oct. 5) – $24
- Texas State (Oct. 26) – $20
- Navy (Nov. 16) – $38
- Georgia State (Nov. 30) – $15
Call the USA Ticket office at 251.461.1USA to order your away tickets today. Orders made through the USA ticket office will be assigned based upon Jaguar Athletic Fund priority points. Tickets for the Jags game against Tennessee will only be available to Season ticket holders in order to be eligibile to purchase tickets for the game.
You can choose to pick up your tickets at the Mitchell Center ticket office at a date yet to be determined or at South Alabama’s Will Call on the day of the game at the host stadium. No tickets will be mailed this year.
Sun Belt Officials Release New Logos
The Sun Belt Conference introduced two new logos for the conference on Tuesday that will begin being used on July 1, 2013. This will replace the existing conference logo that has been in place since 1997.
Along with the new primary and secondary logo, they also introduced a new mantra for the conference which will be the foundation and essece of the new logo, “Together We Rise”.
The new primary logo for the Sun Belt Conference beginning on July 1, 2013.
The new secondary Sun Belt Conference logo that will begin being used on July 1, 2013.
Calvi Named Coach Of The Year, Patterson Named SBC Player Of The Year
South Alabama received more accolades on Tuesday as the Jags baseball team prepare to open their 2013 Sun Belt Conference Tournament campaign against UALR on Wednesday.
Head coach Mark Calvi was named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year, Jordan Patterson was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and in all seven Jaguars earned All-Conference honors at the SBC Family Fun Night at M. L. “Tigue” Moore Field in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Patterson is the sixth Jaguar all-time to earn the award and the first since David Freese in 2006. The award is voted on by the conference’s coaches. He joins an impressive list of Jaguars who have earned the honor which includes: Mike Zimmerman (1990), Jon Lieber (1992), Marlon Anderson (1995), Juan Pierre (1998) and Freese.
Patterson was also named to the First-Team All-SBC team as a utility player. It is his second consecutive season he has earned All-Conference honors and his first first-team selection. Patterson is a junior.
Joining Patterson is Dustin Dalken (DH) and Robby Campbell (2B) on the first team. Matt Bell (starting pitcher), Kyle Bartsch (relief pitcher), Whitt Dorsey (C) and Nolan Earley (OF) were all named to the second-team All-SBC team.
USA and Louisiana-Lafayette tied for the most all-conference selections with seven each. It also marked the most by a Jaguar squad since the 2006 season when seven Jags were named to the All-SBC team.
Additionally, the Jags were recognized for their share of the regular season championship, the 14th Sun Belt title for the University.
Mark Calvi was honored after the team recognition as the SBC Ron Maestri Coach of the Year. It’s the eighth time a Jaguar head coach has been named the conference coach of the year with Eddie Stanky (1983) and Steve Kittrell (1992, ’96, ’98, 2001, ’03). Coach Calvi led the Jags to a 40-win season, which is the most since the 2003 season, and 20 conference wins which is the most since the Jags 27 in 1999.
Jags Announce Transfer of Danny Woodson To Program From Alabama
Danny Woodson Jr. catching a pass in practice in preparation for the Crimson Tide’s National Championship game. Photo credit: C. W. Griffin | Miami Herald
Head football coach Joey Jones announced a new addition to the South Alabama Football team on Monday. Though, he will have to sit out the 2013 season.
Danny Woodson, a 6’1″ 195-pound wide receiver, signed a grant-in-aid agreement with South Alabama. He was originally recruited by the Jags out of high school then sat out the 2011 season as a redshirt freshman while the University of Alabama won the BCS National Championship.
Last season, Woodson appeared in six games with one catch for nine yards in a 52-0 win over Arkansas in route to winning its second straight national title.
Woodson was a two-time first-team all-state selection by the Alabama Sports Writers Association while at LeFlore High School. He was named to the Super 12 by the ASWA as a senior after catching 78 passes for 1,360 yards. He scored 25 touchdowns as a junior.
He was rated a four-star recruit from ESPN.com and was among the top 150 prospects nationally. He was among the top 30 wide receivers in the nation according to ESPN.com (22nd on list), Rivals.com (25th on list) and Scout.com (28th on list). He earned honorable mention by the Orlando Sentinel’s All-Southern Team and was 64th in the Mobile Press-Register’s Super Southeast 120. He was also #6 in the Press-Register’s Elite 18.
Woodson was also recruited by Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Texas Tech coming out of high school. His father, Danny Woodson Sr., played quarterback for the Crimson Tide in 1990 and 1991.
He will have two years of eligibility for the Jaguars after sitting out the 2013 season.
South Alabama Sports Weekend Roundup
Softball
On Sunday night, the South Alabama Lady Jaguar softball team’s season came to heartbreaking end. The Jags stared at the scoreboard after the game not believing what happened in the 7-6 loss to Florida State.
The Jags, facing elimination in the first game on Sunday, fought hard behind the pitching of Farish Beard to win 3-0. But in game two, Farish had a five run lead heading into the top of the seventh inning when the game got away. Along with the game went their chance to advance to the super regionals.
Florida State’s Kelly Hensley nailed a grand slam off of the Jaguar Field scoreboard to tie the game in the seventh inning. Pitcher Monica Perry worked out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh then Victoria East hit a home run over the fence in right center field in the top of the eighth inning to lead FSU to the super regionals in Austin, Texas.
This was South Alabama’s first time to host an NCAA Regional tournament and they were very close in advancing to the super regional. However a stunning comeback by the Seminoles turned the Jags away and gave them hearache that will not heal quickly.
The Jaguars end the season with a 48-9 record overall this season. Of the nine losses, all but one was by one run.
Congratulations on such a great season ladies. Jaguar Nation is very proud of what you accomplished this season.
Baseball
The South Alabama baseball team won one of the three game over the weekend against Troy to earn a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular season title. However, since they shared the title with Troy and had a 1-2 record against them, the Jags will be a #2 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
USA (40-16 overall, 20-10 SBC) will open the tournament against #7 seeded Arkansas-Little Rock (28-16 overall, 13-17 SBC) at 4pm on Wednesday in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The Jags have more SBC Tournament wins than any other current or former school with 78-50 all-time tournament record.
THe Jags swept a three-game series against UALR earlier this season at Eddie Stanky Field and have a 2-1 record against them in SBC Tournament play.
#1 seeded Troy will face #8 Arkansas State on Wednesday prior to the Jags game against UALR. They also have FAU and WKU on their side of the bracket. While the Jags have UALR, FIU and ULL on their side of the bracket.
The Jags enter the tournament with a RPI of 17, which factors into their chances of hosting a regional tournament.
Big Weekend For South Alabama Baseball And Softball
The #18 ranked University of South Alabama baseball team will host Troy University for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series beginning this evening at Eddie Stanky Field. This series will close out the regular season, but it also will determine who the regular-season conference champion will be.
The Jags are 39-14 overall on the season and 19-8 in Sun Belt play. They have won their last six conference series and are looking to earn their 14th Sun Belt Conference title and a #1 seed for the Sun Belt Conference Championship tournament coming up soon.
The three game series will be played on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings with first-pitch scheduled for 6:30pm each night.
Troy is 37-15 overall and 18-9 in Sun Belt play.
Scheduled to take the mound for the Jags on Thursday night is James Traylor, he has a 5-3 record with a 3.93 ERA. Matt Bell, who is 6-0 with a 2.87 ERA, is scheduled to take the mound for game two on Friday. The Jags have not named their starter for the third game while Troy has not named their starters for any of the games yet.
USA has won seven of their last eight games and enter the series with a 22-6 record at home. In addition to the #18 ranking in both the Baseball America and Perfect Game polls, they also bring in a #14 RPI.
The Jags are looking to take at least two of three games to secure the regular season title and a #1 seed for the conference tournament. But they are also hoping to bring their first NCAA Regional home to Eddie Stanky Field.
While we are on the subject of NCAA Regionals, the Lady Jaguars are gearing up to host their first-ever NCAA Regional at Jaguar Field. It gets underway on Friday with Mississippi State and Florida State facing off in game one followed by South Alabama and Mississippi Valley State facing off in Game two at 6pm on Friday.
The winners from Friday will face on in the first of three games scheduled on Saturday. Then both of the losers from Friday will face off in Game two on Saturday in an elimination game. Then the third game will feature the loser from the first game on Saturday (between the two winners from Friday) and the winner of the elimination game.
Sunday will see the final two teams play for the right to move on with a possible second game scheduled, if needed, to determine who moves on to face the winner of the Austin Regional which consists of #4 Texas, Houston, South Caroline and Army.
Each of the regional games will be aired on ESPN3.
Ladd-Peebles Stadium To Get New Turf For 2013 Season
The Jaguar offense looks to the sideline for play adjustments against UTSA in August of 2012.
Ladd-Peebles Stadium will get new turf installed this summer prior to South Alabama’s 2013 football season opener on August 29.
The Mobile City Council voted unanimously for a $311,168 contract with Field Turf to replace Ladd-Peebles aging current turf. Mobile City Attorney Larry Wettermark estimated that the original installation was eight to 10 years old and is approaching it’s end of life. He was worried that if a Senior Bowl player was to get injured by faulty turf, it would jeopardize the event in Mobile.
The city will pay for the turf from the city’s capital escrow account, which is one of the accounts that receives revenues from the penny sales tax that was passed by the city council in October of last year.
Field Turf was the low bidder. Field Turf’s base bid was $295,168 and $6,000 to maintain certain equipment on the field plus $10,000 in contingency funds. Hellas Sports Construction’s base bid was $343,435.
Field Turf has had some issues recently with turf degradation and has admitted to replacing some fields across the nation, including some in Florida. The company believes the problem stems from a supply of defective fiber. The city council did not discuss any of the companies issues during its meeting. But the contract includes an eight-year warranty for defects in materials and workmanship.
Wettermark said that both products from the two bidders were of equal quality and noted that the city’s recommendation was to accept the lowest bidder.
The contract also includes two new goal posts which will be paid for by the Ladd-Peebles Stadium Board. Wettermark introduced the extra expenditure for the first time during the city council meeting and expressed that the timing of the expenditure was important due to the short window before the Jaguars football season.
Work is expected to begin on May 21 and should be completed in July.
City Council President Reggie Copeland’s only concern was that the contract meets the NFL requirements for the Senior Bowl with striping that would be adequate to take care of the needs for the Senior Bowl, South Alabama and GoDaddy.com Bowl.
Copeland also indicated that, if properly maintained with the equipment, they should be a longer life than they did with the previous turf installation.
USA Men’s Golf Team Open NCAA Regional Play Today
South Alabama’s Men’s Golf team will open play at the NCAA Southeast Regional hosted by LSU on Thursday. It will be the first of three rounds of play beginning at 8am. This is the program’s first-ever at-large bid.
The University Club is a 7,436 yard par 72 course. The Jags will play 54 holes over three days with the top five teams and the leading individual not from one of the teams advancing to the NCAA Championships that will begin on May 28.
The second-ranked Alabama is the top seed in the regional with #10 Florida, 17th ranked LSU, #23 Mississippi State and Houston are the top five seeds in the regional. Also competing, in order by seeding, are: Northwestern, Tennessee, USA, Coastal Carolina, UAB, Wichita State, Southeastern Louisiana and Houston Baptist.
The Jags will tee off at 8:50 am and will be playing with Tennessee and Coastal Carolina.
Go Jags!
Dustin Dalken Named SBC Player Of The Week
Senior Dustin Dalken earns his first SBC Player of the Week honor. Photo by Bobby McDuffie | usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Dustin Dalken was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week on Monday.
Dalken, a 6’6″ Senior from Gainesville, Georgia, went 7-for-13 with a double and two home runs, six RBI, three runs scored and a .571 on-base percentage as he led the Jags to a 3-1 record last week. He got a hit in all four games and recorded two multi-hit games and two multi-RBI games. He also extended his hitting streak to 12 consecutive games, a career-best.
Dalken went 6-for-12 against Louisiana-Lafayette over the weekend with a double, two home runs, six RBI and three runs scored with 13 total bases.
This is Dalken’s first Player of the Week honor and the third Jag this season.