Jags Defeat Alabama State 5-1 In Montgomery
South Alabama defeated Alabama State in Montgomery 5-1 on Tuesday in a one-hit performance by three Jaguar pitchers. Matt Bell improved to 3-0 on the season by only allowing one run on one hit while striking out four and walking two in a career high 5 2/3 innings of work.
James Traylor threw 2 1/3 hitless innings while striking out two in relief with Jordan Patterson pitching a perfect ninth inning and striking out one to earn the save.
The Jags got started early with a triple then scoring on a wild pitch to give the Jags a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, the Jags would load the bases on two walks and a hit batter. A Sacrifice fly would score a run then an RBI single would score another run to increase the lead to 3-0.
In the top of the fourth, the Jags would add another run on a passed ball to go up 4-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, Bell would face the minimum through 3 1/3 innings before allowing a one-out single. The only run for the Hornets would be allowed to score when a runner was caught trying to steal second which allowed a runner to score during the rundown.
USA would score once more in the top of the eighth for the final score of 5-1.
The Jags improve their overall record to 15-3 on the season as they prepare to begin Sun Belt play this weekend at Troy.
Jags Basketball Is Waiting To See If Season May Be Extended
The South Alabama’s basketball team’s season may not be over just yet. There is a chance the Jags could play in one of the other postseason tournaments that are held.
The NCAA Tournament is the tournament that all the teams want to invited to, but the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and CollegeInsider.com Tournaments will invite a total of 80 teams to participate in their tournaments.
Also, if the school is invited to participate in one of the tournaments, the school could turn down the opportunity. Some tournaments are on a ‘buy in’ basis so Athletics Director Joel Erdmann said that the decision to participate in one would be made “in the best interest of the program” on several occasions when asked.
Meanwhile, the school is preparing to conduction an national search for the head coaching position that is currently held by interim head coach Jeff Price after Ronnie Arrow announced his retirement back in December.
Price is on the list to be considered for the position and hopes to get a chance to extend the season a little longer. “I think anytime your program has the opportunity to play int he postseason, regardless of what tournament that might be in, it’s something you want to do,” Price said to AL.com. “It’s good for the players and the experience, it’s good for recruiting and I think it’s good for the program. I’m definitely hopeful we’ll get a chance to play again.”
The Sun Belt tournament continues to be a tough conference for high-seeded teams. The Jags, a #3 seed in the tournament, fell to #6 seeded Western Kentucky who then defeated #2 seeded Arkansas State to get into the Sun Belt Championship Game.
The #1 seeded Middle Tennessee State was upset by #4 seeded Florida International in the quarterfinals to earn the right to face Western Kentucky.
Last night, in the championship game, the Hilltoppers held on in a close game all night to earn their second consecutive Sun Belt Championship and their second consecutive NCAA Tournament trip. This leaves Middle Tennessee State ‘On the bubble’ for the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Raiders are hoping for an at-large invitation to the tournament.
USA Weekend Update
Baseball
The University of South Alabama baseball team rebounded from a 15-2 loss on Saturday to the University of North Florida to win the series with a 9-8 win on Sunday at Eddie Stanky Field.
Jaguar pitcher Dylan Stamey tied a career high with four strikeouts and allowed four hits and one earned run in 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn his third win of the season. Kyle Bartsch earned his fourth save of the year after pitching a perfect ninth inning while striking out one batter.
The Jags struck early by taking a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Then North Florida responded with five runs in the top of the third inning to take the 5-3 lead over the Jags. South Alabama reponded in the bottom half of the inning after Nolan Early hit a three-run homer to put the Jags back on top 6-5. USA would put two more runs over the plate in the inning to lead 8-5 at the end of the inning.
UNF would add two more runs in the top of the fifth inning to get within one of the Jags 8-7. Jags would add another run in the bottom of the 6th and UNF would cut the lead to one run again in the top of the eighth, but would not be able score again after that.
The Jags improve to 14-3 on the season while UNF falls to 11-5.
The Jags will travel to Montgomery to take on Alabama State on Tuesday with first pitch set for 6pm. Then the Jags will travel to Troy to take on the Trojans in a weekend Sun Belt series.
Softball
South Alabama battles hard against #9 UCLA on Saturday, but fell short by losing 2-1. UCLA improved to 20-4 on the season.
The Lady Jags then turned around and split the final day of games in California. The Jags fell to Utah 2-1 in the early game on Sunday before rebounding for a 4-1 win over host Long Beach State in the late game.
Hannah Campbell’s record fell to 9-4 on the season but earned her team-leading third save of the season. Farish Beard improved her record to 9-0 on the season with nine strikeouts in six innings while only allowing three hits and one earned run against LBSU.
The jags will return to action when they open Sun Belt play at Jaguar Field on Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Men’s Basketball
South Alabama had the lead with 25 seconds left in the game against Western Kentucky, but a turnover allowed the Hilltoppers to take the lead and hold on for the 62-59 win.
The Jags had an opportunity with 9.2 seconds left in the game, but a three-point attempt by Barrington Stevens III missed but the Jags kept possession with 0.5 seconds left. A final desperate heave by Augustine Rubit hit the rim twice but would not fall for the Junior.
Rubit finished with a team-high 22 points and eight rebounds. Senior Javier Carter added 11 points, six rebounds and one block. Stevens, Wright and Ammons both added six points.
Sun Belt Tournament
Western Kentucky defeated #2 seed Arkansas State 58-56 on Sunday. Then #1 seed Middle Tennessee fell to #4 seed Florida International 61-57 to fall short of getting to the Sun Belt Championship game for the second season in a row.
The Conference Championship Game will tip off Monday evening at 6pm with #4 FIU squaring off against #6 Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers are looking for back-to-back Sun Belt Championships and NCAA Tournament berths.
Jags Face WKU Tonight In SBC Tournament Showdown
South Alabama will face Western Kentucky in the second around of the Sun Belt Tournament Saturday night in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
South Alabama earned a bye in the first round of the tournament with a #3 seeding while #6 seed WKU defeated #11 seed ULM 79-73.
The Hilltoppers hold a 4-3 lead over the Jags in Sun Belt Tournament games. The Jags split the regular season meetings with the ‘toppers with each team winning their home game.
The game is scheduled to tip-off at 8:30pm with radio coverage on WNSP with play-by-play by Lee Shirvanian and streaming video available via the Sun Belt Digital Network.
Jones Pleased With Thursday Scrimmage
Offensive lineman Drew Dearman signals pre-snap as the Jaguars work in Spring drills last season.
The South Alabama Jaguars held their final practice prior to the University dismissing for a week for Spring Break. The session was half practice and half scrimmage.
The scrimmage covered over 80 snaps and used six different quarterbacks running the first, second and third string units. Though, Coach Jones said that there were no special designations as to what players were with the first team and those who worked with the second and third teams. The offense got started fairly quickly with some big plays as Ross Metheny hit Wes Saxtor for 13 yards then two plays later scrambling for 15 yards.
Next up was Brandon Bridge who opened the drive with a 19 yard completion to newcomer Jay Jones. Four plays later Bridge found Shavarez Smith on the sidelines, who shoved down the defender and took it 43 yards for a touchdown. Jay Jones also broke a 32-yard run on the day.
About midway through the scrimmage Bridge would notch another touchdown when he connected with Corey Waldon in the corner of the end zone for a 10 yard score. Earlier in the drive he sprang loose on a 3rd and 11 from their own 29 yard line for a 36 yard gain.
Metheny narrowly missed connecting with Bryant Lavender for a score from about 40 yards out, but Lavender was one step out of bounds. But Metheny did connect with Corey Besteda for a 30-yard score.
Qudarius Ford, who missed all last season with a knee injury suffered in preseason camp, had the lone turnover with an interception in the end zone. The defense had three three-and-outs during the second half of the scrimmage including a stop on fourth-and-two.
Logan Gunn attempted six field goals as part of the scrimmage. He connected on four of the six including kicks from 37 and 39 yards.
“We had a really good work day today,” head coach Joey Jones said after practice. “I can’t tell who did what running plays. We ran seven-play segments because we were trying to get a lot of plays in today. We got in about 80 in a 50-minute time period because the kids were hustling and doing a good job of getting to the ball on defense. We’ll watch film to get the results of who did what.”
“I think our leadership has been really good this year,” Jones continued. “The guys are mature and working hard to fix some of the little things behind the scenes. The offensive staff has done a good job in the offseason of trying to tweak some things and make our offense better. I though you saw some really good things out there today. We’re running the football better, that’s the big thing.”
“We’ll use the off time as a staff to work the whole week on recruiting and of course evaluating where we are at this point,” Jones explained. “I told the players that we’ve gone through five practices now, which is close to halfway, so we are seeing where we are lining up. We won’t make [depth chart] determinations until the end of the spring, but obviously we’ll start looking at the personnel as well.”
One of the most obvious differences was how well the Jags moved from unit to unit and play to play. The coaches did a great job in organizing and preparing the players to be ready on the sidelines. They ran on and off the field and looked sharp. The offense was able to get the ball snapped quickly, which is an improvement from last season. The defense also jumped offsides a few times, which Jones said will be addressed.
“I think we came out kind of slow, everybody was late,” linebacker Clifton Crews commented after practice. “We probably looked better the first three days of practice to tell you the truth. The coaches have come in and taught us a lot, but we are keeping it to fundamentals and sound technique. If we mess up, then mess up at full speed. We don’t want effort to be the problem.”
The Jags will pick up with practice after spring break on Tuesday, March 19 at 6am as they lead up to the Red-Blue game on Saturday, April 6th at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
USA Pefect On The Diamond Friday
Baseball
The Jaguars baseball team stayed undefeated at home this season as third baseman Bud Collura came through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Jags defeated North Florida 6-5 Friday night.
Going into the bottom of the ninth, the Jags were tied 5-5. Jeff DeBlieux doubled down the right field line with one out. Then Collura came up to bat and put the 0-2 pitch into left field to score DeBlieux to win.
The Jags improve to 13-2 on the season while UNF fell to 10-4. They will play again today with first pitch set for 2pm at Eddie Stanky Field and again on Sunday with a 1pm first pitch.
The game can be heard on WNSP with Pat Greenwood handling the play-by-play.
Softball
The Jaguar softball team swept the first day of Long Beach State Invitational to improve their overall record to 20-2 on the season.
Hannah Campbell pitched a no-hitter to defeat UC-Santa Barbara on Friday morning then pitched two innings of relief as the Jags were tied with Idaho State 1-1 and allowing the Jags to score the go-ahead run in the sixth inning.
The no-hitter by Campbell was the first of her career and the first for a Jaguar since 2009 when Beth Pilgrim lead the Jags over Saint Louis.
Hannah Campbell improves her record to 9-2 on the season with a 0.75 ERA in 65.2 innings pitched. This was her third shutout of the season.
The Jags will hit the diamond at 4pm against #9 UCLA.
Sun Belt Tournament Preview
The Sun Belt Conference Tournament begins today in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Middle Tennessee State earned the #1 seed with a 27-4 overall record and a 19-1 record in Sun Belt play.
MTSU has a big bulls eye on their back. Number one seeds in the Sun Belt Tournament have not fared well over the last few years. Even last season MTSU had a similarly impressive record but fell in their first game of the 2012 Sun Belt Tournament to #9 seed Arkansas State. Their record coming into the game was 27-7 (14-2 SBC).
MTSU has been tearing through some of their opponents this season without abandon. They defeated ULM by 41 points, the Jags by 35, Troy by 52 and UALR by 32 all since the beginning of the year. Their only loss was on the road against Arkansas State, who had their number in the tournament last season in Arkansas, 66-60 in overtime.
After their loss last season, they were snubbed by the NCAA Tournament and settled for the NIT. The same could happen this season if they lose their opening game of the tournament, but many think that if they don’t get embarrassed they would get an at-large berth in the tournament. They enter the SBC Tournament with a 16-game winning streak and 10 consecutive win by double digits. Their RPI is #24th in the nation.
The rest of the teams are looking to win the tournament for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. South Alabama is one of those teams. Augustine Rubit was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year for his performance this season. The Jags will look to use him as they have thei season to advance in the tournament.
MTSU will face the winner of the #8 seed UL-Lafayette and #9 North Texas who tip off at 6:30pm this evening. While the Jags will face the winner between the #6 WKU and #11 UL-Monroe gam that tips off at 6pm.
The other game this tonight is #7 FAU and #10 Troy who tip off at 8:30pm.
Lady Jags Softball Defeats Nicholls State 8-0
Jaguars Softball earned it’s eighth run-rule win of the season after downing Nicholls State 8-0 in six innings at Jaguar Field wednesday night.
A three-run homer to center field by Kaitlyn Griffith in the bottom of the fifth inning followed by triples by Britany Campbell and Brittany Fowler to score a pair of runs. An inning later Alex Breeden scored from second on an error followed by pinch-runner Britany Campbell scoring from third on a wild pitch.
The Lady Jags improved to 18-2 on the season while the Colonel’s falls to 7-11 on the season. Beard improves to 8-0 on the season with an ERA of 1.24. The Jags defeated Nicholls State in Louisiana last month 7-1.
The Jags improved their home record to 6-0 this season.
They will return to action this weekend at the Long Beach State Invitational with two games slated for Friday. An 11am game against UC-Santa Barbara followed by a 4pm game against Idaho State.
Jags Baseball Down Southern Miss 6-5
South Alabama defeated regional foe Southern Miss 6-5 Wednesday night at Eddie Stanky Field. Left-hander James Traylor struck out a career high seven batters in 5 2/3 innings of relief to lead the Jags to the win.
Traylor entered in the bottom of the first inning in relief of starter Andrew Fonzi. Kyle Bartsch earned his third save of the season with a perfect ninth inning where he struck out two Golden Eagles batters.
South Alabama improved their record to 12-2 on the season while USM fell to 6-6.
The Golden Eagles took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning but the Jags responded in the bottom of the first with a leadoff single that was followed by consecutive walks and by the end of the inning would have the lead at 4-3.
The Jags would load the bag in the bottom of the second inning on a walk then a two-run single up the middle would give the Jags a 6-4 lead. USM would only manage one more run int he top of the fourth inning as the Jags held on the rest of the way for the win.
South Alabama will host North Florida for a weekend series at Eddie Stanky Field. Friday night’s game is scheduled for a 6:30pm first pitch. Saturday is a 2pm first pitch and the final game on Sunday is scheduled for a 1pm first pitch.
Augustine Rubit Honored As Sun Belt Player of the Year By League Coaches, Media
Rubit was named SBC POTY conference coaches and media on Wednesday as he averaged 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game during the regular season. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
As many South Alabama fans expected, Junior Augustine Rubit was honored by the coaches and media on Wednesday. He was named the 2012-2013 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.
In addition to his Player of the Year honor, the first for a Jaguar player since Jeff Hodge in 1989, he was also earned his second consecutive First Team All-Sun Belt team honor. Rubit was honored by CollegeInsider.com as their Sun Belt Player of the Year on Monday as well.
Rubit averaged 18.9 points, 10.8 rebounds and 33.3 minutes per game this season with 16 double-double performances. He scored 20 or more points in 13 games, including a carrer-best 34 points against Louisiana-Lafayette on Valentines day, which was one of his three 30-point games this season.
He also set a school record for free throws made in a season with 177 while being one of the nation’s top players in reaching the free throw stripe. He was third in NCAA’s Division I in free throws made and attempted per game.
In the midst of all of this, he scored his 1,000th point and currently ranks ninth in school history in scoring with 1,337 career points. He has also moved into second place all-time in career rebounds in school history with 878 which also puts him in 10th place in Sun Belt history. his 302 rebounds so far this season is fourth best in Jaguars single-season records.
Rubit led the Jaguars to a 17-11 regular season record while going 14-6 in Sun Belt play, the most conference wins since the 2007-2008 season. The Jags earned a bye in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and thus will play their first game on Saturday night.