CLEVELAND, Miss. --   No. 20 Delta State University (10-3, 4-2 GSC) hosts Union University (15-1, 6-0 GSC) for their first home baseball series, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Harvey Stadium at Ferriss Field.

About The Statesmen: Juwan Burney leads the Statesmen with .406 average followed by Zack Shannon (.396), Jason Popovich (.333) and Emil Ellis (.319). Shannon has a team-best 13 RBIs and is tied with Brian Lane with four doubles. Clay Casey leads the team with three home runs followed by Popovich, Shannon, Burney, Justin Nussbaum and Tyler Brown with two.  The Statesmen are still looking for their breakout weekend, hitting .277 with 18 doubles, 15 home runs and 81 runs scored.  Probable weekend rotation is Corey Beard (2-0, 5.70 ERA, 25 Ks, 5 BBs, 23.2 IP), Tre Hobbs (2-2, 3.52 ERA, 21 Ks, 5 BBs, 23 IP) and Seth Birdsong (1-0, 7.27 ERA, 20 Ks, 11 BBS, 17.1 IP). Senior Zach Osbon is 2-0 with two saves out of the Statesmen bullpen.

Scouting UU: Union University is riding a nine game winning straight coming into the weekend and sits atop the GSC standings with a 6-0 record. The Bulldogs are hitting .329 with 43 doubles, five triples and 21 home runs. Union has outscored its opponents 136-74. Nolen Milton leads the team in average (.420), doubles (9), triples (2), home runs (6) and RBIs (26). Tyler Mauzy is batting .4144 with four doubles, two home runs and 14 RBIs. On the mound, UU has a .383 ERA with 131 strikeouts to 51 walks and opponents are hitting .252 against. Bulldog hurlers have allowed 74 runs, 57 earned. JR Miller, Teddy Christie, Marty Coursey are the probable weekend rotation. Miller is 3-0 with a 3.13 ERA with 20 strikeouts to six walks and has allowed 11 runs, eight earned in 23 innings. Christie is 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA, 26 strikeouts to 10 walks. Coursey has been the game three starter, posting a 3-1 records with a 5.50 ERA, 19 strikeouts to three walks. 

Last Time Out: Delta State's midweek game against Mississippi Valley State University was postponed until a later date. After falling 11-7 in game one, the Statesmen rebounded to win 4-1 and 13-5 to capture the GSC series against No. 21 Lee University. Tre Hobbs struck seven while allowing one run on six hits in a complete game 4-1 win in game two.  Juwan Burney went 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs to lead the Statesmen to the 13-5 win in game three. Reliever Peyton White struck out eight hitters in 3.2 innings to earn the game three win.      

• TWO OUT LIGHTNING: Delta State scored 43-of-81 runs this season with two outs. The Statesmen scored 18 of its 24 runs in the Lee series with two outs. Nick Morgan has .715 average with two outs and Jason Popovich  is hitting at a .636 (7-of-11) clip with two outs.  The Statesmen are hitting .303 as a team with two outs.
• BEARD, HOBBS, BIRDSONG: Seniors Corey Beard  and Tre Hobbs and junior Seth Birdsong ranked fifth in the Gulf South and 15th in the NCAA with four games started. Hobbs is first in the GSC and second in the NCAA with two complete games and is averaging 5.75 innings per start. Beard is averaging just under six innings per start (5.92). 
• CLOSING TIME: The Green-and-White have been solid with the lead beyond the sixth inning. Delta State is 8-0 when leading after six innings, 7-0 when leading after seven and 6-0 when leading after the eighth innings. Senior Zach Osbon is tied for second in GSC with two saves and ranks in the top 10 with a 2-0 record. The Monroe, La., native has a 0.82 ERA with 12 strikeouts to six walks in six relief outings.  Junior Zach Shannon has emerged out of the bullpen with four strikeouts in two innings in two appearances. Shannon has allowed one unearned run on two hits and opponents are hitting .200 against.
• DUCKS ON THE POND: Juwan Burney, Emil Ellis, Zack Shannon and Jason Popovich have been the top hitters with runners in scoring position. Popovich leads with a .429 average (6-for-14) and has six two-out RBIs followed by Burney (.417 / 5-for-12). Shannon and Ellis are tied with a .333 average with runners in scoring position. Clay Casey has four two out RBIs that includes a two-run home run and two sac-flies.   As a team, the Statesmen are hitting .261 with runners in scoring position.
• QUICK STARTS: The Statesmen are 9-1 when scoring first and 5-1 when scoring in the first inning. The Statesmen have outscored opponents 13-5 in the first inning and 17-4 in the third inning.  Through the first three innings, the Statesmen have outscored opponents 36-18.
• THE CLOSE ONES: Delta State is a combined 5-0 in games decided by two runs or less. The Statesmen are 3-0 in one-run games and 2-0 in two run games.   

• K ZONE: The Statesmen pitching staff notched a season-high 12 strikeouts versus Lee on Sunday and rank fifth in the GSC with 112 strikeouts. DSU pitchers have recorded double figure strikeouts four times this season, notching 11 against Florida Southern (2.10), and fanning 10 against Harding (2.5) and Mount Olive (2.11).  Eight-plus strikeouts have been registered in 11-of-13 games this season.  Corey Beard leads the team with 24 strikeouts followed by Tre Hobbs with 21 and Seth Birdsong with 20.  Junior Peyton White made two relief appearances last week, recording 10 strikeouts in 7.1 innings to move his season total to 14. 
• COACH K, BASEBALL STYLE: In his 20 seasons at the helm of the Statesmen, Mike Kinnison has posted 12 40-plus wins, including five 50 win seasons, and has averaged 42.6 wins per season. Kinnison has guided the Statesmen to one national, six GSC and five south/south central region titles during his tenure. 
• STATESMEN IN D2BASEBALL NEWS POLL: Delta State is ranked No. 21 in this week's D2Baseball News National Poll. Last weekend's opponent Lee University is ranked 29th while Mount Olive is 13th.
• TENNESSEE CONNECTIONS: Cody Young (Collierville, Tenn./Austin Peay St.), David Pimentel (Brentwood, Tenn./East Miss. CC), Seth Birdsong (Brownsville, Tenn./Dyersburg State CC), Tyler Brown (Friendship, Tenn./Lipscomb University), Darek Sargent (Smyrna, Tenn./Central Magnet HS), Juwan Burney (Arlington, Tenn./Arlington HS) and Sam Williams ( Ripley, Tenn./Ripley HS) make up the seven Statesmen who hail from the state of Tenn. on the 2017 roster.
• INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS: The Statesmen lineup includes many interchangeable parts.  Junior Josh Russell has caught, played third and left field. Sophomore Juwan Burney played third and left field and has been the designated hitter. Brian Lane has starts at catcher and designated hitter and Jamell Newson has played in left field and center field while Zack Shannon has played first base and closed on the mound. Nick Morgan, who is a shortstop by trade, has drawn starts at second and third base 
• HOME SWEET HOME: Delta State started the season with nine straight road games before hosting Southern Arkansas on Wed., Feb. 22.  Overall, the Statesmen played 12-of-13 games on the road to start the year, including nine straight to open the season. The Union series begins an eight-game home stand on March 4-5 followed by two midweek games against Arkansas Tech (March 7-8) and wrap up with a three-game GSC series versus West Georgia (March 11-12).