CLEVELAND, Miss. -- No. 19 Delta State University (19-7, 10-5 GSC) hosts Gulf South Conference leader North Alabama (16-12, 11-4 GSC) for a three-game eries, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and concluding with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.at Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field.
The Statesmen: Zack Shannon leads the Statesmen in batting average (.447), doubles (9), RBIs (37) and is tied with
Clay Casey with six home runs.
Brian Lane has eight doubles followed by Casey with seven. Casey is second with 21 RBIs. The Statesmen are hitting. 302 with 45 doubles, four triples and 25 home runs. The probable weekend rotation is
Corey Beard (4-0, 4.79 ERA, 38 Ks, 10 BBs, 28 R, 22 ER, 41.1 IP),
Tre Hobbs (3-4, 5.13 ERA, 39 Ks, 10 BBs, 32 R, 23 ER, 40.1 IP) and
Seth Birdsong (3-1, 5.45 ERA, 35 Ks, 16 BBs, 22 R, 21 ER, 34.2 IP). Senior
Zach Osbon is 5-0 with three saves and a 0.89 ERA out of the bullpen.
Scouting UNA: The Lions won 2-of-3 games from visiting West Alabama last weekend, winning 8-7 and falling 6-1 on Saturday before claiming a 13-5 win on Sunday. Kyle Hubbuch leads the Lions in average (.388), home runs (6), doubles (11) and RBIs (25). Logan Carter (.309) has 24 RBIs and is tied with Davis Elliott (.321) for second with eight doubles. Tate Mathis follows Hubbuch with a .364 average. Probable starting pitchers: Bradley Bailey (LHP, 2-4, 8.01 ERA, 36 Ks, 16 BB, 37 R, 27 ER), Tyler Joyner (RHP, 7-0, 2.60 ERA, 59 Ks, 17 BBs, 17 R, 15 ER) and Devan Traglia (RHP, 4-0, 3.94 ERA, 41 Ks, 18 BBs, 22 R, 20 ER)
Last GSC Series: The Statesmen swept a three-game series on the road from Alabama Huntsville, winning 13-8 on Saturday and 11-6 and 6-3 on Sunday.
Zack Shannon hits .455 with a double, a home run and eight RBIs and
Emil Ellis went 5-for-10 with a double, a triple and four RBIs in the series.
Corey Beard struck out six and allowed five runs, three earned, on eight hits to earn the game one win on the mound.
Seth Birdsong posted his best outing as a Statesmen, yielding three runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts through eight innings in game one on Sunday.
Tre Hobbs gave up three runs, one earned, on nine hits with seven strikeouts in the sweep clinching game two win.
MIDWEEK RECAP
Delta State roared back from 12-3 deficit to claim a 15-13 win over visiting Henderson State on Tuesday. Henderson State held a 12-3 lead into the bottom of the fifth when the Statesmen scored four runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to erase the deficit and take a 15-13 lead into the top of the ninth.
Zack Shannon highlighted the four-run fifth with a three-run home run while
Brian Lane and
Clay Casey each hit two-run home runs in the sixth.
Juwan Burney, Casey and
Emil Ellis had RBIs in the seventh.
Zach Osbon pitched three innings to close the game, allowing a run on four hits with three strikeouts to move to 5-0.
HOME SWEET HOME
The Statesmen are 6-4 and 3-3 in their last six games at Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field. The Statesmen are hitting .337 and are led by
Zack Shannon, who is hitting .581 with three doubles, two home runs and 15 RBIs.
Brian Lane follows with a .424 averaged and
Clay Casey is hitting .394 with four doubles, two home runs and 12 RBIs.
Jason Popovich has a .385 average and
Justin Nussbaum is hitting .333 with seven RBIs.
BLACK AND BLUE
The Green-and-White have been hit 59 times at the plate, which leads the GSC and NCAA. In the Alabama-Huntsville series, the Statesmen were plunked 10 times and have been hit 13 times in the last five games.
ANOTHER CG FOR HOBBS
Tre Hobbs tossed his third complete game this season in a 6-3 win over Alabama Huntsville on Sunday. The Greenville, Miss., native has 11 complete games in 23 career starts. Hobbs' three complete games leads the GSC and ranks seventh in the nation.
BIRDSONG SETS THE TONE
Seth Birdsong worked a career-high eight innings with a career-high seven strikeouts. The junior carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning while the Statesmen cruised to an 11-4 win in game one of Sunday's doubleheader at UAH.
BEARD SOLID AT NO. 1
Corey Beard has worked eight innings in his last two starts with a combined 13 strikeouts to five walks. Beard pitched into the eighth inning and had six strikeouts in a 13-8 win over UAH on Saturday. The Jefferson City, Mo., native has six or more strikeouts in four of seven starts and has averaged six innings per start.
CASEY HEATING UP
Clay Casey had a .154 batting average through the first 13 games this season but his bat has been heating over the last 13 games. The Melbourne, Fla., native is hitting .444 with six doubles, three home runs and 14 RBIs while slugging .778 with a .510 on base percentage. The surge has Casey hitting. 289 with, seven doubles and six home runs and 21 RBIs entering the UNA series.
CLOSING TIME
Delta State is 14-0 when leading after six innings, 11-0 leading after seven innings and 10-0 when holding the lead after the eighth. Senior
Zach Osbon is tied for third in GSC with five wins and three saves.
TWO OUT LIGHTNING
Delta State has scored 70 of its 166 runs this season with two outs and have 67 two-out RBIs. The Statesmen are hitting .324 with two outs. The Statesmen scored 12 of 30 runs with two outs against Alabama Huntsville last weekend.
Zack Shannon leads the Statesmen with nine two out RBIs followed by
Jason Popovich and
Justin Nussbaum with eight and
Clay Casey with seven.
DUCKS ON THE POND
The Statesmen are hitting .341 with runners in scoring position.
Zack Shannon,
Nick Morgan,
Juwan Burney,
Clay Casey and
Jason Popovich, and have been the top hitters with runners in scoring position. Shannon is hitting .528 (19-for-36) followed by Morgan (.400), Burney (.364), Popovich and Casey (.345).
QUICK STARTS
The Statesmen are 13-2 when scoring first and 9-2 when scoring in the first inning. The Statesmen have outscored opponents 23-13 in the first inning and 29-17 in the third inning. Through the first three innings, the Statesmen have outscored opponents 64-50.
TIGHT ONES
Delta State is a combined 8-0 in games decided by two runs or less. The Statesmen are 4-0 in one-run games and 4-0 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 has notched seven-plus strikeouts in 19-of-26 games.
ALABAMA CONNECTIONS
Brian Lane,
Nick Morgan and Cade Mullens have ties to the State of Alabama.
Brian Lane is from Spanish Fort, Alabama where he helped SPHS to three AHSAA 5A State baseball titles. Morgan lists is hometown as Covington, La., but spent much of his prep career playing for Hoover High School in Hoover, Ala. Mullens played his prep career at Homewood High School in Homewood, Ala.
