South Alabama Lose One Of Their Own
Anthony Mostella: May 10, 1988 – June 13, 2010.
The South Alabama Jaguar family lost a member today. 22 year old Anthony Mostella died in a one-vehicle accident in St. Clair County according to a report from Alabama State troopers.
The accident occurred about three miles south of Ashville. No other details were available and the accident remains under investigation.
Friends and family have been bombarding his facebook page with notes to him and his family. A shining light that was extinguished too early. Rest in peace Mo, your #5 will not be forgotten.
**EDIT**
Following up on last night’s terrible news that Anthony Mostella passed away in an accident, some specifics were released later last night. It seems that it was a motorcycle crash around 3:40pm about three miles south of Ashville.
At Birmingham Southern he was a second-team All-Southern Collegiant Athletic Conference pick at running back in 2007. He rushed for 222 yards with two touchdowns on 57 rushes while catching 30 passes for another 297 yards and a touchdown. He was also named to the Sun Belt Conference Academic Honor Roll at the end of the Spring semester in 2009.
In high school at Oneonta, Mostella set a school record with 38 touchdowns while rushing for 2,055 yards. During his four years, Oneonta had a mark of 52-3.
South Alabama’s Head Football Coach Joey Jones actually coached Anthony Mostella at Birmingham Southern as well as South Alabama and gave the following quote on usajaguars.com.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Anthony’s family right now. I’ve been fortunate to have worked with Anthony at two schools, he was the epitome of a true student-athlete and a tremendous role model to his peers. His character and leadership skills will always be an example for everyone in our program to follow.”
Doing The Conference Shuffle 2010 Edition
Some interesting things have popped up lately about conference expansion/realignment. There have been speculation about the Big10 (actually 11 teams) grabbing at least one more team to make the NCAA required 12 teams in order to have a conference championship game.
The Big10 (actually 11) first inclination was to offer to Notre Dame who already has some well established rivalry games within the conference. They are in the right place in the region and, well, it just plain makes sense. However, Notre Dame holds onto this notion that they are special and that their name means something in College Football. Unfortunately, it only does to Notre Dame alums, elderly college football fans and Lou Holtz. If you face the facts like Kirk Herbstreit said on College Gameday late last year, Notre Dame has been irrelevant for about 20 years. The best thing for the Irish to do is to join the Big 10 (actually 11) while they looking for a 12th team.
Other Big10 (actually 11) candidates would be getting Connecticut as well as luring Syracuse and Rutgers to the fold. This would bring in the New York market and money. But UConn isn’t part of the AAU. Plus they aren’t that good anyway.
Next on the list would be Missouri. Pulling them from the Big 12 might prove to be a tough proposition but Mizzou fits in much better than UConn, Rutgers or Syracuse. The bottom of the short list has Pitt. They are rivals to Penn State and the Big 10 (actually 11) is already in Pennsylvania. Nebraska is another Big 12 school that could be lured to the Big 10 (actually 11) and would fit in like Missouri.
The Big 12 has given both schools, Nebraska and Missouri, a deadline of Friday at 5pm to tell them what they are going to do. If they don’t meet the deadline, then another very interesting twist could unfold.
The Pac-10 is also looking to expand their ranks. If Mizzou and Nebraska fail to meet the deadline then six Big 12 schools could possibly bolt the conference for the Pac-10. Those teams would include Texas and Oklahoma. The Big 10 (actually 11) has not formally extended any invitations to anyone but continues toward trying to land a major program. Texas is in play for every league exploring expansion.
Mike Slive, commissioner of the SEC Conference is currently sitting atop the mountain right now. The SEC is the superconference that everyone wants to be like. The Big 10 (actually 11) wants to join them on that mountain as another superconference. Slive is ready to react if the Big 10 (actually 11) expands to 14 or even 16 teams.
Some people have said that the SEC would be ready to extend an invitation to Texas and Texas A&M. Other possible schools could be Florida State, Clemson or Virginia Tech. Tech was actually being courted when the SEC was looking to expand last time but they added Arkansas instead. Some Georgia Tech fans might try to pull for their school but they don’t really fit the SEC model.
So all of this talk about Big 12, Pac-10, Big 10 (actually 11) and SEC but what does it mean for South Alabama? Could USA be the dark horse and sneak into the SEC? Doubtful at this time. But with this talk of superconferences what about a merger between Conference USA and the Sun Belt?
Looking at football schools, this would bring together South Alabama, Western Kentucky, Arkansas State, Louisiana Lafayette, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Louisiana Monroe, Troy and Florida Atlantic together with Alabama-Birmingham, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Houston, Central Florida, Marshall, Rice, SMU, UTEP and Tulsa for a very large conference.
Do they need all of those schools? Not really. Who to pick for a 16 team conference? South Alabama, UAB, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Monroe, Southern Mississippi, Troy, North Texas, Houston, UTEP, Tulsa, Memphis, Central Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee State, (Marshall, Rice or SMU). But what would be better would be if this new megaconference (not quite a superconference) could lure someone like East Carolina, Georgia Tech or Clemson to the conference.
But how all this will shake out is anyone’s guess at this point. The ball is in the Big 10’s (actually 11) court with Notre Dame. If they can convince them to join, it’s mostly all over from there. The PAC-10 will still probably look to expand but trying to convince six Big 12 schools to join them would be infinitely more difficult if Missouri and Nebraska do not have to face a choice of joining the Big 10 (I won’t mention the 11 this time) or staying put.
Are Some South Alabama Fans Calling For A Coaching Change?
In this mornings Sound Off in the Mobile Press-Register, a reader wrote in criticizing the Jaguar baseball coaching staff. This is rightly so, the team has not performed well since 2006 and the ERA lately has been over 6. So, what is the Athletics Department to do?
With Coach Kitrell’s past success and general likability in the community, it would be a hard sell to fire him. It doesn’t seem like Coach K wants to retire either. However, they might be able to convince him that this would be the best for the program. Either way, what do you do?
Probably the most likely to happen is a shake-up in the staff. Pitching is definitely an area where the bullseye would probably fall. Another area where things could change would be the position of recruiting coordinator.
Recruiting is definitely a tough area for College Baseball. When good high school players graduate, their first inclination is to try to make it in the Minor Leagues. This is the shorter route to possibly making it to the Major Leagues. If they go to college, they may get drafted early in their collegiant career and go play in the Minors. But again, because it’s the shortest route, you don’t go from College to the Majors.
South Alabama and the other programs must have top notch recruiters in order to convince these kids to come to their program. Currently, pitching is at a premium. Which is why you see major league pitchers receiving high paying deals while clubs are scouring minor league teams for the next pitching prospect.
So what is the answer for the South Alabama baseball program? I think it’s too early after the major letdown at the end of the season to determine that. This may be the first major decision the new Athletic Director Joel Erdmann will have to face at South Alabama.
Would Luis Gonzalez like to become a college baseball coach? It could be a big boom in recruiting and his alma mater might be searching.
After Dropping Two Consecutive Games USA Is Eliminated From SBC Tournament
After an inspiring start on Wednesday, the Jags fell in the second round of the Sun Belt Tournament to top seeded Florida Atlantic. Thought they didn’t go down without a fight.
Trailing 10-4 going into the bottom of the eighth inning, USA could only manage to score two runs after they loaded the bases with with no outs. In the bottom of the ninth, still trailing 10-6, the Jags scored a run before Jags loaded the bases again with no outs. After a fielders choice scored another run, a single through the right side loaded the bases again. A sacrifice fly ball to right would score another run, but was stranded after that when the game ended 10-9.
On Friday, the Jags found themselves facing Florida International, whom they defeated the first day to put them in the losers bracket. FIU scored eight runs in the first four innings but South Alabama would rally for six runs in the top of the sixth inning to cut the lead to 8-7.
The top of the seventh would see the Jags tie the game at eight, but was answered by the Owls in the bottom half of the inning with two runs. The top of the eighth inning had the Jags score their final run of the game.
Trailing by a run in the top of the ninth, they got a one out single to right field, however the runner could not be advanced past first base. So for the second consecutive game the Jags fell 10-9 but were eliminated from the Sun Belt Tournament.
The Jags end the season with an overall record of 32-27 after stranding 12 runners on base against for the game.
Jags Still Holding Onto Postseason Baseball Hopes
While the Jags lost five of the last six games of the season, at least they sent the seniors out on a winning note against Troy. After dropping the first two games at home, the Jags won 11-10 on Saturday’s Senior Day.
The season ending losing streak took the Jags from first place to fifth place and will open the Sun Belt Tournament against fourth seeded Florida International on Wednesday at 9am. FIU started the Jaguars losing streak with a three game sweep in Miami.
However, an interesting note about this is that the last time the Jaguars won the Sun Belt Tournament in 2005 the Jaguars lost five of their last six regular season games.
The Jags need to win the SBC Tournament in order to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The eight participants in the Tournament in order of their seeding are: 1) Florida Atlantic, 2) Lousiana-Lafayette, 3) Middle Tennessee, 4) Florida International, 5) South Alabama, 6) Troy, 7) Arkansas State and 8) Western Kentucky. As usual with baseball tournaments, this is a double elimination tournament.
Go Jags!
Jags Baseball Get Swept Out Of First Place
South Alabama‘s baseball team tumbled down the Sun Belt standings over the weekend when they were swept by Florida International in their weekend series.
South Alabama fell to 30-23 for the season and 16-11 in the Sun Belt while FIU improved to 30-20 overall and 16-11 in the Sun Belt. The Jags fell to 5th place in the Sun Belt, a full three games behind Florida Atlantic who is in first place. The full Sun Belt rankings are: FAU (19-8), ULL (18-9), MTSU (17-10), FIU (16-11), USA (16-11), ASU (15-12), Troy (14-13), WKU (14-13), UALR (10-15), ULM (7-20) and UNO (2-26).
The Jags have a three game home stand against Troy to end the season, while FAU’s regular season has concluded. While the Jags have a chance to improve their SBC tournament ranking, but the other teams the Jags need to leap-from also play lower ranked teams. Another weekend sweep would be disastrous for the Jags.
So come out to Stanky Field and support the Jags during this pivotal weekend series as they try to make the NCAA Tournament.
Jags Baseball Surrender First Place To Florida Atlantic
The Jags fell to second place in the Sun Belt after this past weekend’s three game series at Stanky Field. After falling 7-2 to FAU on Friday night, the Jags came from behind on Saturday night to win 6-5 on a walk-off balk in the 9th inning.
On Sunday afternoon, the Jags lost 6-3 to FAU after a squandering a 3-0 lead in the top of the eighth inning. The Jags allowed five runs on six hits in the top of the eighth, including back-to-back home runs to take the lead 5-3. FAU added an insurance run in the top of the ninth.
So the Jags went into the weekend with a one game lead over FAU but leave the weekend trailing by one game. FAU improves to 18-8 in the Sun Belt and 30-17 for the season while the Jags fall to 16-7 in the Sun Belt and 29-19 on the season.
The Jags still control their own fate though with two more Sun Belt series left in the regular season while FAU only has one series left against FIU.
The Jags have their last non-conference game tomorrow night at Stanky Field when they host #18 ranked Auburn University then they will travel to FIU for a three game weekend series followed by a Thursday through Saturday series at Stanky Field hosting Troy University to end the regular season.
Jaguars Baseball First Place In SBC
The Jaguars baseball team is sitting in first place in the Sunbelt. They have a half game lead over second place Florida Atlantic and a game and a half lead on third place MTSU.
With three remaining Sunbelt conference series left in the season. Their first series will be hosting Florida Atlantic after the Jags off week. The following weekend is a travel to Florida International then the season ending series against Troy in Mobile.
However, when the regular season ends it will only be the beginning for the Jags. In order to get into the College Baseball World Series, Coach Kittrell feels that the Jags need to win conference tournament. Kittrell says that even though the Sunbelt is currently the 5th ranked conference in the nation, it does not guarantee that two or more teams could make the College World Series. The Jags do not want to leave it up to chance, for good reason.
Jags Brownell Has Run In With Police
South Alabama has finished it’s second spring practice heading into this second season of football but it didn’t take long for their instance of a player having a run in with the police.
Starting Safety Zach Brownell was arrested Thursday morning on 24 charges. The 19-year old player damaged 22 vehicles in the Delta parking lot on campus. The charges break down into 22 counts of criminal mischief, public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
According to campus police, Brownell was drinking when he pulled or broke off mirrors from the vehicles in the parking lot. They also said that “three or four” vehicles had broken windows. They described the damage done as “small-time vandalism to each car,” for the most part.
Brownell even damaged a vehicle of Chris Pugh, a teammate of his. Norm Gamache said university police were called to the Delta parking lot after 3am on a report of someone damaging vehicles where they arrested Brownell.
South Alabama Athletic Director Dr. Joel Erdmann said, “I think all of our programs and all of our coaches and the entire department is very centered on basic principles of tremendous citizenship and graduation and competing to the best of our ability. All of our student athletes and everybody in our department is very sensitive to that and so we do examine things like this very deeply and take it very seriously.”
Keith Ayers said that Brownell would not be suspended from classes. In an incident like this he is subject to a nonacademic conduct review. If the crime committed is bad enough, then the student could be subject to dismissal from the university.
Brownell is a native of Prattville, Alabama and started all seven games at Safety in the inaugural season for South Alabama. He led the team with five interceptions and was second on the team with 27 tackles. While in high school, Brownell played on three state championship teams and partcipated in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic.
Brownell was placed in the Mobile Metro jail and released on Thursday afternoon on a $17,000 bail.
Brownell has been indefinitely suspended from the team pending an investigation.
Jaguar Football Rings
The Jaguar Football team was presented with their rings recently. They commemorated the school going undefeated in its inaugural season. They are diamond encrusted with the familiar Jaguar sports logo, their record and the players name, number and position.
Chris Pugh, a player from my hometown, graciously gave Thunderjags.com permission to post the photos of his ring on our website.