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Golden Eagles Baseball Hosts UAB in Final Conference USA Weekend Series Both Southern Miss and UAB, along with Charlotte (21-28, 8-16) and Saint Louis (20-30, 8-16) are battling for the final two spots in the Conference USA Tournament at Zephyr Stadium in New Orleans on May 16-20. Sunday's game will mark the final game for six seniors on the Southern Miss baseball roster, Michael Artman, Dusty Haley, Ben Mosley, Brent Quinn, Chad Rogers and manager Thomas Greene. The games will be broadcast on WXHB, 96.5 FM, THE HUB, in Hattiesburg and on SouthernMiss.com for fans outside the Hattiesburg area. John Cox will handle the play-by-play duties with the pregame show beginning 15 minutes prior to the first pitch.
Under the direction of Corky Palmer, Southern Miss is 6-4 against UAB, 3-0 in Hattiesburg and 3-4 in games played in Birmingham, Ala. The Blazers defeated the Golden Eagles, 3-2, in Birmingham, earlier this season on March 7. The Golden Eagles enter the weekend series after winning one of three games in last weekend's series at Cincinnati. The Bearcats won Friday's game, 7-5, and Saturday's 14-6. Southern Miss won the final game of the series on Sunday, 11-2. UAB enters the game after splitting a pair of midweek games, defeating Samford 4-3 on Tuesday and dropping a 6-5 decision to Mississippi State on Wednesday. Last weekend, Louisville defeated UAB two of the three games in the weekend series. The Blazers won the opener, 7-0, before dropping Saturday's game, 5-3, and Sunday's, 10-0. Friday's pitching matchup will feature Southern Miss' Shea Douglas (LHP, 4-5, 3.62ERA, 79.2IP, 77K, 30BB) and UAB's Joe Yarbrough (LHP, 4-4, 3.28ERA, 74.0IP, 58K, 28BB). In his last outing, Douglas pitched 7.1 innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits in last Friday's 7-5 loss at Cincinnati. He is currently sixth in Conference USA in earned run average, third in lowest opposing batting average, third in batters struck out looking and fifth in batters struck out. Yarbrough dropped his last outing, a 5-3 decision against Louisville, last Saturday. He pitched a complete game, giving up five runs, four earned, on eight hits, walked one and struck out 10. He is currently second in Conference USA in earned run average, fifth in opposing batting average and ninth in batters struck out looking. Saturday's game will feature Southern Miss' Daniel Stewart (RHP, 4-4, 4.80ERA, 69.1IP, 55K, 26BB) against UAB's Andre Parks (RHP, 5-0, 2.25ERA, 52.0IP, 36K, 33BB). Stewart dropped his fourth decision of the season last Saturday in Southern Miss' 14-6 loss at Cincinnati. He pitched three innings, giving up 10 runs on five hits, walking six and striking out six. Stewart is tied for second in Conference USA in runners picked off with five. Parks, Conference USA co-Pitcher of the Week for last week, pitched a two-hit complete game shutout in UAB's 7-0 victory over Louisville last Friday night. He walked one and struck out five. He is first in Conference USA in earned run average and opposing batting average. The final game will feature Southern Miss' Chad Rogers (RHP, 5-6, 3.54ERA, 76.1IP, 47K, 13BB) against UAB's Ross Dobbins (RHP, 5-4, 4.64ERA, 73.2IP, 59K, 23BB). Rogers earned his fifth victory of the season at Cincinnati on Sunday, pitching eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits, walking one and striking out five. He is fifth in Conference USA in earned run average. Dobbins dropped his last outing against Louisville last Sunday, 10-0. He pitched two innings, giving up six runs, five earned, on six hits, striking out two. He is seventh in Conference USA in batters struck out looking. Offensively, Southern Miss is hitting .272 with 86 doubles, 11 triples and 43 home runs. The pitching staff shows a team ERA of 4.55, fourth in Conference USA. The Golden Eagles have struck out 353 batters, third in the conference, and walked 206. Southern Miss' opponents are hitting .278 off the staff, fifth in the conference. Jeff Cook leads the Golden Eagles in hitting, batting .347 with 18 doubles, one triple, six homers and 36 runs batted in. He leads the team with a .523 slugging percentage and is second with a .386 on-base percentage. Michael Artman is second on the team, hitting .299 with seven doubles, two triples, four homers and 20 runs batted in. He has walked a team-high 32 times and been hit a team-high 12 times. Allen Winningham is hitting .281 with nine doubles, two triples, two homers and 20 runs batted in, and Dusty Haley is hitting .271 with 12 doubles and eight homers. Haley leads the team with eight homers, while Artman, Winningham and Darren Welch lead the team with two triples. UAB is hitting a .262 with 76 doubles, six triples and 27 home runs. The Blazers display a slugging percentage of .360 and an on-base percentage of .349. The pitching staff has a combined earned run average of 4.22 in 461.0 innings of work, number one in Conference USA. They have struck out 338 batters and walked 215. Opposing batters are hitting .260 off the staff, also first in the conference. Brandon Isbell leads the Blazers in hitting with a .327 average with 10 doubles, one homer and three runs batted in. He displays a slugging percentage of .452 and a .401 on-base percentage. Mark Garner is second in hitting with a .326 average, with 10 doubles, two homers and 28 runs batted in. Chris George is tied with Isbell and Garner for the team lead with 10 doubles. Christian Reimers and Matt Gaulden lead UAB with two triples each, and Al Hecklinski leads the Blazers with five homers. Mitch Jones has swiped 18 bases to lead UAB. After this weekend's conference series, the Golden Eagles, provided they finish in the top eight teams in Conference USA, will travel to New Orleans for the Conference USA Baseball Tournament at Zephyr Field on May 16-20. level. He currently is 24th on that USM career scoring list with 1,084
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