Southern Miss faces Ole Miss tonight at Trustmark Park
Published 11:50 am Tuesday, April 7, 2015
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The Southern Miss baseball team vies for a season sweep of in-state rival Ole Miss when the two schools meet Tuesday at Trustmark Park. Game time is slated for 6:30 p.m.
The Golden Eagles (17-11-1) defeated the Rebels, 5-1, in Hattiesburg on March 4. Southern Miss used a four-run, sixth inning in that game to pull away in that contest. Junior right-handed pitcher, Cody Cockrell, threw seven strong frames in that victory. He will get the nod against the Rebels again in Pearl.
After winning the final two contests over UAB last weekend, Southern Miss shoots for its third-straight win and the sixth consecutive triumph over Ole Miss.
The program played well in all three phases of the game against the Blazers, registering at least 10 hits in all three games, playing errorless baseball for the entire series and getting a pair of quality pitching starts.
Southern Miss raised its team batting average to .270 through 29 games, as freshman Taylor Braley continues to pace the squad in hitting with a .394 mark. Senior Connor Barron, despite missing the last five games with an injury, is next at .330 with Matt Durst trailing at .321 and Dylan Burdeaux, who has hit safely in the last seven games, posting a .317 mark.
Defensively, the team has not committed a miscue over the last four games and just one over the last seven contests to hold a Conference USA-best .976 fielding percentage. That percentage also ranks No. 29 nationally in the latest NCAA statistical summary.
The pitching staff, which got quality starts from Cody Carroll and James McMahon, and saves from Ryan Milton and Cody Livingston, over the weekend against the Blazers has a 2.48 team earned run average. That ERA total also leads C-USA and ranks No. 9 in the latest NCAA statistics.
Ole Miss enters the contest at 16-16, having dropped two of three at home to league foe Tennessee over the weekend.
Southern Miss Sports Media Relations