CLEVELAND, Miss. -- No. 23 Delta State University (15-7, 7-5 GSC) travels to the University of Alabama Huntsville (10-12, 2-7 GSC) for a three-game Gulf South Conference series, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday at 2 p.m. and concluding with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Huntsville, Ala.
- The First Pitch: The Statesmen (15-7, 7-5 GSC) hit the road for a three-game Gulf South Conference series against Alabama Huntsville (10-12, 6-6 GSC) starting with a doubleheader on Saturday at 2 p.m. and concluding with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Statesmen and Chargers played five times in 2016 with the Green-and-White winning all five. Two meetings came in the GSC Tournament with the Statesmen claiming a 3-1 win in the title game.
- About The Statesmen: Zack Shannon continues to lead the team in batting average (.442) and RBIs (25) and is tied with Brian Lane for the team lead with seven doubles. Clay Casey and Shannon are tied with four home runs while Casey is second with 14 RBIs. The probable weekend rotation is Corey Beard (3-0, 5.13 ERA, 32 Ks, 10 BBs, 23 R, 19 ER, 33.1 IP), Tre Hobbs (2-4, 5.94 ERA, 32 Ks, 9 BBs, 29 R, 22 ER, 33.1 IP) and Seth Birdsong (2-1, 6.80 ERA, 28 Ks, 14 BBs, 19 R, 18 ER, 26.2 IP). Senior Zach Osbon is 4-0 with three saves out of the bullpen. Statesmen hurlers rank fifth in the GSC with 175 strikeouts and have issued the fourth lowest walks (74) in the league.
- Scouting UAH: The Chargers swept a doubleheader from the West Florida on Saturday before falling in the game three in Pensacola, Fla. Ben Rhodes is hitting .360 with six doubles, two home runs and 19 RBIs followed by Tanner Burns (320) and Jay Copeland (.328). AJ Walden leads has four home runs and 13 RBIs and Tray Mathis has 11 RBIs. Probable weekend starting pitchers: Heath McRae (LHP, 3-0, 3.33 ERA, 19 Ks, 9 BB, 8 R, 8 ER), Will Myers (LHP, 2-2, 3.86 ERA, 34 Ks, 10 BBs, 21 R, 13 ER) and Riley Camp (RHP, 2-1, 3.86 ERA, 15 Ks, 5 BBs, 21 R, 13 ER)
- Last GSC Series: The Statesmen dropped a three-game series to the West Georgia, 2-1 on Sunday and Monday at Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field. Delta State won game won 5-2 before falling 8-4 and 14-4 over the final two games. Zack Shannon went 6-for-10 (.600) including going 4-for-4 in game three with two RBIs. Brian Lane was 5-for-10 with a two doubles and a triple. Zach Osbon notched his third save in game one while starter Corey Beard (1-0) recoded sevens strikeouts while allowing two runs on eight hits to earn the game one win. Delta State captured a 8-1 win over Mississippi Valley State in a midweek game on Wednesday in Itta Bena, Miss.
MIDWEEK RECAP
Delta State captured a 8-1 win over Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday in Itta Bena, Miss.
Zack Shannon and
Brian Lane combined six hits and five RBIs. Shannon went 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and three RBIs while Lane was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
Clay Casey also went 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI.
Brady Chambley pitched 4.2 innings and did not allow run or hit with two strikeouts. Chambley and
Andy Borries carried a combined no hitter through 7.1 innings.
SCHEDULE CHANGES
Due to the West Georgia series being shifted, Head Coach
Mike Kinnison announced additional schedule changes last week. The Tues., March 14 game at Arkansas-Monticello is move to Tues., April 11 at 3 p.m. in Monticello, Ark. The home game on April 11 vs. Arkansas-Monticello is changed to Wed., April 19.
ROAD TESTED
The Green-and-White are 9-3 on the road and 1-0 in neutral site games for a combined 10-3 mark this season. Delta State has wins over nationally ranked Floirda Southern, West Alabama, and Lee on the road and a neutral site win over Mount Olive (Lakeland, Fla.). As a team, the Statesmen are hitting .259 and have oustcored opponets 72-63, averaging six runs per game on the road.
Zack Shannon is hitting .364 with three hom runs, four doubles and 14 RBIs.
Juwan Burney is also batting .364 and has two home runs, a double and eight RBIs.
Jason Popovich has a .308 average with seven RBIs and 10 runs scored.
STATESMEN IN THE GSC STATS
Player Rank Category/Stats
Clay Casey T7th Home Runs • 4
Zack Shannon 2nd Batting Avg. • 442
T4th RBIs - 22
3rd Slug % • .714
T7th Hits • 34
3rd On Base % • .511
T7th Home Runs • 4
Zach Osbon 3rd Saves • 3
T4th Wins • 4
Corey Beard T9th Strikeouts • 32
BEARD's BEST
In Delta State's 5-2 win in game one against West Georgia, Senior
Corey Beard made his best start of the season. Beard's posted his longest outing of eight innings with seven strikeouts, one off his season-high. The Jefferson City, Mo., native retired 12 of 13 batters from the fourth through the eighth innings to help the Statesmen earn the win.
SARGENT'S FIRST
Freshman Derek Sargent collected his first collegiate hit in game two versus West Georgia (3.12). The RBI single through the left side was part of four-run inning that help the Statesmen cut the West Georgia lead to 8-4. Sargent also got his first career start at second base against MIssissippi Valley State on Wednesday.
NATIONAL POLLS
Delta State fell to 23rd in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National poll and the D2BaseballNews.com poll and received votes in the NCBWA Media Top 25 poll this week. Tampa took over the top spot in the CBN poll followed by Angelo State at No. 2. South Carolina Aiken is the new number one in the NCBWA media poll with Central Missouri State No. 2. The Statesmen were ranked 18th in the NCBWA poll before going 2-3 last week.
CLOSING TIME
Delta State is 10-0 when leading after six innings, 8-0 leading after seven innings and 7-0 when holding the lead after the eighth. Senior
Zach Osbon is tied for third in GSC with three saves and four wins. The Monroe, La., native has a 0.52 ERA with 19 strikeouts to six walks in six relief outings.
TWO OUT LIGHTNING
Delta State has scored 58 of its 136 runs this season with two outs and have 55 two-out RBIs. The Statesmen are hitting .312 with two outs.
Jason Popovich has a team-high eight two out RBIs while
Zack Shannon and
Justin Nussbaum have seven.
Clay Casey and
Brian Lane have five.
QUICK STARTS
The Statesmen are 11-2 when scoring first and 6-2 when scoring in the first inning. The Statesmen have outscored opponents 18-11 in the first inning and 27-17 in the third inning. Through the first three innings, the Statesmen have outscored opponents 57-47.
TIGHT ONES
Delta State is a combined 7-0 in games decided by two runs or less. The Statesmen are 4-0 in one-run games and 3-0 in two-run games.
K ZONE
The Statesmen pitching staff has registered double digit strikeouts in five games, including a season-high 12 strikeouts versus Lee (2.26). DSU pitchers struck out 11 against Florida Southern (11/2.10) and Union (3.4), and 10 versus Harding (2.5) and Mount Olive (2.11). Delta State ranks fifth in the GSC with 175 strikeouts and has notched eight-plus strikeouts in 14-of-22 games.
Corey Beard and
Tre Hobbs leads the team with 32 strikeouts (T9th GSC) followed by
Seth Birdsong with 28 and.
Academic Props
Working hard in the classroom is a staple of Delta State Baseball and Athletics and the 2016 fall semester was no exception. Twenty-nine-of-36 Statesmen on the 2017 roster achieved a 3.0 GPA or higher during the semester. Overall, 216 student-athletes achieved a 3.0 GPA or better during the 2016 fall semester.
