The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Baseball Travels to Rival Southern Miss
4/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
UAB (17-10, 5-4 C-USA) at Southern Miss (15-10-1, 4-4 C-USA)
Details: Hill Denson Field at Pete Taylor Park · Hattiesburg, Miss.
Thursday, April 2 -- 6 p.m. ·Friday, April 3 -- 6 p.m. ·Saturday, April 4 -- 2 p.m.
Game Coverage: Twitter
Live Stats: Game One · Game Two · Game Three
Live Video: Game One · Game Two · Game Three
Game Notes: UAB
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team hits the road for the fourth time in the last five weeks to face longtime Conference USA rival Southern Miss in a three-game set in Hattiesburg, Miss.
The series gets underway Thursday night at Pete Taylor Park at 6 p.m. The middle game is also set for a 6 p.m. start, and the two clubs will close the series Saturday at 2 p.m.
Live stats and live video will be available for all three games. Information to that can be accessed at SouthernMiss.com or in the links above.
Leading Off
· UAB hits the road again for the fourth time in the last five weeks, with a three-game series at long-time rival Southern Miss.
· The Blazers recently snapped a six-game win streak against Alabama Tuesday night, falling 7-2 in a midweek contest that was hampered by rain at Regions Field.
· The Green and Gold are fresh off a five game, spring break road trip, where the Blazers dominated Ole Miss in a doubleheader sweep last Tuesday, and took all three from WKU in its first Conference USA sweep of 2015.
· UAB's pitching staff has allowed just one run in five of the last seven games, and has held opponents to three runs or less in 14-of-27 games this season.
· UAB's defense, which ranked in the top-25 in the NCAA all of last season, again leads the league thus far with a .975 fielding percentage. The Blazers have turned 31 double plays this year (17th in the NCAA), and are averaging more than one per game (1.12 - 12th in NCAA).
· Twenty-three different lineup combinations have been used for the Blazers' 27 games this season. At least three different players have drawn starts in each spot of the order this season.
· This weekend's games will feature two nearly identical teams statistically, as both squads sport impressive pitching numbers. Southern Miss has a 2.41 team ERA, while UAB's is at 3.01. The Blazers have the edge in strikeouts with 195, while the Golden Eagles have issued 74 walks to UAB's 97. Defensively, the teams are neck-and-neck in the league. UAB has a .975 fielding percentage, while Southern Miss is second in C-USA at .973. Each hitting category (BA, SLG, OBP) is also separated by just 15 percentage points or less heading into the three-game set (UAB: .253, .358, .341 - USM: .265, .365, .350).
Series History
UAB and Southern Miss, the only charter members left in Conference USA, have met nearly 100 times over a span of 35 years. The Golden Eagles lead the all-time series, 66-30, heading into the weekend.
The two squads last met in the 2014 Conference USA Championship, where UAB's run ended in a 4-3 loss. The Golden Eagles took 2-of-3 in last year's series in Birmingham.
Scouting The Opponent
Southern Miss enters the weekend at .500 in Conference USA play, a club that was picked to finish fourth in the league according to the preseason poll.
The Golden Eagles have also played three league weekends, taking 2-of-3 from FIU, splitting with Louisiana Tech, 1-1, before most recently dropping their series to Rice in Houston.
On paper, Southern Miss and UAB are in a lot of ways very similar. The Golden Eagles are hitting .265 as a team, led by Taylor Braley's .417 and Matt Durst's .351. Durst has the team lead in RBI with 19, while Tim Lynch has a club-best four home runs. USM is 32-of-44 in swiping bases, led by eight from Connor Barron and nine from Michael Sterling.
Like the Blazers, the Golden Eagles statistically have a dominant pitching staff, with a team ERA of 2.41 heading into the weekend. Starter James McMahon, who was named the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week Monday, is 5-0 on the year with a 0.99 ERA and 31 strikeouts. Cody Carroll, Friday's projected starter, is 1-1 with a 2.54 ERA, while Christian Talley, probable starter for game one, is 2-4 with a 4.54 ERA.
Looking Ahead
UAB hosts Jacksonville State Wednesday, April 8, in a makeup date from earlier in the year. The Blazers then welcome top-25 Rice for a weekend set at Young Memorial Field next weekend.
For more information on the UAB baseball team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_Baseball). For more on all Blazer sports teams follow the official Twitter account of UAB Athletics (@UABAthletics).
