The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Opens C-USA Championship Play with Southern Miss
5/19/2015 12:00:00β―AM | Baseball
(6) UAB (30-24, 15-15 C-USA) vs. (3) Southern Miss (35-16-1, 19-10 C-USA)
Details: Hill Denson Field at Pete Taylor Park | Hattiesburg, Miss.
Wednesday, May 20 -- 7:30 p.m.
Follow the Blazers: Twitter
Radio: 1070 WAPI-AM | Talent: David Crane (PXP)
Game Coverage: Live Stats | Live Video | UAB Notes
C-USA: Bracket | Notebook
Probable Starting Pitchers:
RHP James Naile (9-3, 2.36) vs. RHP Cody Carroll (5-4, 2.91)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- UAB's baseball team opens postseason play Wednesday at the 2015 Conference USA Baseball Championship with a 7:30 p.m. first pitch vs. Southern Miss at Pete Taylor Park.
The Championship features the top eight teams in regular-season league play. The format is two double-elimination brackets with four teams each, with the winners of each bracket meeting in a single-elimination championship game, set for Sunday, May 24 at 12 p.m. CT. That contest will be televised on the CBS Sports Network with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
UAB is guaranteed at least two games and will play again on Thursday either at 12:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.
Live stats and live video will be available for each game of the tournament. Information to that can be found in the links above or at ConferenceUSA.com.
Leading Off
- UAB makes its 16th appearance in the Conference USA Championship this week and will open play Wednesday as the No. 6 seed vs. No. 3 seed Southern Miss at 7:30 p.m. at Pete Taylor Park.
- The Blazers wrapped up the regular season last weekend with a series win over Old Dominion, their ninth overall of 2015, and reached 30 wins for the third time in the last four seasons to finish 30-24 overall and 15-15 in league play.
- Redshirt senior Tyler Mims picked up another academic honor this week, landing a spot on the 2015 C-USA All-Academic Team for the third consecutive year.
- After RHP James Naile threw a gem with nine strikeouts in a complete-game performance in game one vs. Southern Miss back in April in Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles came back to claim a 3-0 and 3-2 victory to take the series.
- Redshirt junior catcher Esteban Tresgallo enters the tournament sizzling at the plate, with six home runs in his last nine contests. He's tallied 12 hits, scored 13 runs, driven in 16, walked six times and hit one double and one triple over the last nine games.
- Wednesday's game will feature two of the top pitchers in the league in Naile and Cody Carroll. Similar to Naile's successful night in game one of the series earlier this season, Carroll also pitched a gem, recording career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts to shut out the Blazers in the middle game of the series. Carroll threw 8.1 innings and allowed just two hits with 10 strikeouts.
- The winner of Wednesday's game will advance to face the winner of the (7) Old Dominion vs. (2) Florida Atlantic contest at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
- The Blazers are fifth overall in the NCAA in double plays turned with 57 on the year, averaging 1.06/game, 11th nationally.
Series History
UAB and Southern Miss have met 96 times entering Wednesday's matchup in the series that dates back to the 1980 campaign. The Golden Eagles took 2-of-3 from the Blazers back in early April.
Southern Miss leads the all-time series, 62-34. After winning the first game of the series in Hattiesburg this spring, the Green and Gold lost 3-0, then 3-2. All three of the Blazers' games last season vs. the Golden Eagles were decided by one run.
Scouting The Opponent
Southern Miss has turned into one of the hottest teams in the nation as of late, winners of its last 13 contests heading into the C-USA Championship, which it hosts at their home park in Hattiesburg.
The Golden Eagles claimed C-USA series wins in five league weekend's this season, including three-straight sweeps over Marshall, Charlotte and Middle Tennessee to conclude league play and earn the No. 3 seed.
Southern Miss is hitting .277 as a club entering the tournament, led by a mark of .333 from Tim Lynch and Taylor Braley's .307. Lynch has the edge in RBI with 32 on the year, while four other hitters have at least 28 driven in. Lynch is also the team's leading slugger with nine long balls and 20 extra-base hits in 2015. Michael Sterling leads the squad in stolen bases with 15, a club that has swiped 55 bags this season.
The Golden Eagles have the top ERA in the league (3.17), led by the knockout duo of James McMahon and Cody Carroll. McMahon is 11-1 on the year with a 1.72 ERA and .203 BAA, while Carroll is 5-4 in 14 starts with a 2.91 ERA and .209 BAA. He's allowed 30 earned runs with 82 strikeouts in 92.2 IP.
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).
