Complete Week 7 Notes
CLEVELAND, Miss. -- No. 1/2
Delta State University (17-2, 8-1 GSC) travels to play the University of West Alabama for a three-game Gulf South Conference series, beginning with a single game on Friday at 3 p.m. at Tartt Field in Livingston, Alabama. The series concludes with a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m.
The two clubs met five times in 2017, colliding in the 2017 GSC and NCAA Division II South Region Tournament championship games. The Statesmen won the regular season series 2-1 and claimed 6-3 and 6-4 wins in both title tilts.
Another GSC Honor: Zack Shannon was named the Gulf South Conference Player of the Week for the week ending March 12, 2018. Shannon hit .500 with three home runs, eight runs scored and eight RBIs while leading the Statesmen to a 2-1 series win over the University of West Georgia. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native slugged 1.400, had a .533 on-base percentage and was walked five times, two intentionally. Shannon was 4-for-6 with two home runs, six RBIs, six runs scored and four walks to help the Statesmen sweep a doubleheader from UWG, 16-5, and 12-3 on Friday. On Saturday, Shannon was 1-for-4 with a two-run home run in a 10-9 loss to the Wolves.
Out of the Gate: Delta State's 17-2 start is the best start since a pair of 13-2 starts in 2005 and 2013 while the 16-1 start was the best start in the Head Coach Mike Kinnison era.
About The Tigers: The Tigers enter the weekend hitting .233 as a team with 27 doubles, five home runs. Joel Murphy leads UWA with .288 average and 12 RBIs followed by Luke Phillips with a .286 average and four doubles and three steals. Austin Moffett and Ben Dalke have a team-high five doubles. Lincoln Stubbs has a .333 average in 11 starts. Christian Griffin is 2-0 with a save in six relief outings. J.T. Saltiner is 201 with a 2.38 ERA, 47 strikeouts, and 15 walks while giving up 10 runs, nine earned on 28 hits in 34 innings. Steffon Moore is 3-3 with a .395 ERA, 43, and 31 walks and has yielded 13 runs, 12 earned on 15 hits in 27.1 innings. Cole Waites is 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA, 32 strikeouts and 22 walks in 21.2 innings. West Alabama has a 4.72 team ERA with 196 strikeouts to 119 walks while allowing 199 runs, 89 earned on 163 hits in 169.2 innings. The Tigers are fielding .951 as a team with 35 errors in 718 fielding opportunities.
GSC Numbers: Delta State ranks in the top 5 in 12 GSC statistical categories, leading in home runs (30) and slugging percentage (.515). The Statesmen are second in runs (190), RBIs (174), total bases (364) and fewest strikeouts (95) while ranking in batting average (.330), hits (233) and on-base percentage (.411). DSU is fourth in hit-by-pitch (37) and fielding percentage (.962) and fifth in doubles (37).
Individual GSC Numbers: Zack Shannon leads the league in batting average (.474), runs scored (32), RBIs (44), home runs (15) and slugging percentage (1.171) and is second in on-base percentage (.549) and hits (36). Emil Ellis is sixth in batting average (.411) and is tied with Brian Lane for fifth in hits (30) and runs scored (24). Clay Casey ranks fifth in home runs (5). Lane is first in hit-by-pitch (10), fourth in RBIs (24), eighth in on-base percentage (.489) and 10th in batting average (.395). Jason Popovich is third in at-bats (88).
Statesmen in the GSC: The Green-and-White enter the series with the Wolves with an all-time 601-217-1 conference record that includes 14 GSC Tournament championships, 21 GSC regular season and 11 GSC West Division titles. Delta State has won seven GSC Tournament crowns under Head Coach Mike Kinnison.
Last Time Out: Delta State got a pair of three-run home runs and seven RBIs from Zack Shannon and a grand slam from leadoff hitter Jason Popovich in a 15-0 route of visiting Harding University on Tuesday.
76th Season: Delta State is playing its 76th season of baseball and has a 1,987-954-11 all-time record. The Statesmen are ranked seventh in NCAA Division II in wins with a 309-123-2 record since 2000.
ROAD STATESMEN: The Green-and-White are 10-2 on the road the season and 12-2 on the road, including two neutral site games, this season. The Statesmen are hitting .331 as a team with six players sporting a .300 or better batting average on the road. Josh Russell is hitting .447 with two doubles and 10 RBIs. Emil Ellis has a .431 average with 22 hits, 12 RBIs, two doubles and 16 runs scored. Zack Shannon boasts a .404 average with four doubles, six home runs, 17 RBIs and 20 runs scored while walking 10 times. Juwan Burney has a .379 average followed by Jason Popovich with a .344 and Brian Lane with a .321 clip and 16 RBIs. Clay Casey has two home runs and 15 RBIs and Justin Nussbaum has 10 RBIs.
R TRAVELING SHOES: Delta State has played 15 of the first 19 games on the road in 2018. The Green-and-White logged 2,120 miles on the Florida swing to open the season on Feb. 2-4 at Lynn University in Ft. Boca Raton, Fla., Nova Southeastern in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and Palm Beach Atlantic in Jupiter, Fla. Delta State added 410 miles for a trip to Arkadelphia, Ark., for games against Ouachita Baptist, and Nebraska-Kearney on Feb. 9-10. Add 1,036.8 miles for an unexpected trip to Quincy University for games against Southern Indiana and Quincy along with a three-game series at Valdosta State on Feb. 24-25 and West Georgia on March 9-10. The Statesmen traveled 3,887 miles over the first 11 games and will log 8,141 round-trip miles on the road in 2018.
SHANNON MOVING UP: Zack Shannon has belted five home runs in his last four games to move into sixth on the career home runs list. Shannon needs two home runs to tie Barry Lyons (36/1979-82) for fifth and three home runs to pull even with Devin Goodwin (37/2006-09).
DIGGIN' THE LONG BALL: In 295 career ABs, Zack Shannon has 34 home runs. That's a home run for every 8.67 ABs. DSU's career home run leader, Dee Haynes (1998-2000) had 69 home runs in 636 career at-bats, homering every 9.26 at-bats.
STATESMEN ON FIRE: The Statesmen are hitting .342 and have outscored opponents 122-90 while posting 23 doubles, a triple and 16 home runs. Seniors Zack Shannon and Emil Ellis have been scorching at the plate during the last 10 games. Shannon is hitting .568 with 10 home runs, three doubles, a triple, 22 runs scored and 27 RBIs. He is slugging 1.514 and has a .638 on-base percentage and has walked six times and ben hit by a pitch three times. In 37 at-bats, Shannon has 21 hits and has struck out just four times. Ellis has a .426 average with three doubles, eight RBIs, 15 runs scored and a .538 slugging percentage. The Ridgeland, Miss., native has struck out three times in 39 at bats and has 17 hits.
NATIONAL NUMBERS: A look into the NCAA statistics has the Statesmen sixth in scoring (9.8 r/gm), 20th in home runs (30),15th in batting average (.330) and 19th in runs scored (190) and 16 hit by a pitch (37).
- Zack Shannon leads the NCAA in home runs per game (.71), total bases (89), slugging percentage (1.171) and ranks second in RBIs (4) and RBIs per game (1.65) second in home runs (15).
- Brian Lane is sixth in the country and second in the GSC in hit by a pitch (10).
DOUBLE DIGIT HITS & RUNS: The Statesmen have scored double-figure hits and run 15 times in 2018. The Statesmen had a season-high 21 hits and 21 runs against Nova Southeastern (2.3). DSU has scored double-figure runs in six of the last eight games and has double-digit hits in seven of the last eight games.
TOUGHEST TO K: Brian Lane and Emil Ellis rank fourth and fifth in the GSC and 27th and 65th in the NCAA among the toughest to strikeout. Lane strikeouts once every 23.3 at-bats and Ellis is one in every 16.3 at-bats. The Statesmen have struck 95 times, the second lowest in the GSC, are striking out one in every 7.4 at-bats.
MISCELLANEOUS NUMBERS
- The Statesmen are hitting .354 with two outs and have 66 RBIs and nine home runs in 240 at bats with two outs. Zack Shannon sports a .515 (17-for-33) average with 20 RBIs and Josh Russell is hitting.474 (9-for-19) with two outs.
- DSU is hitting .450 with the bases loaded (18-for-40) and has four grand slams, Justin Nussbuam (vs. Nova Southeastern), Brian Lane (vs. Palm Beach Atlantic), Clay Casey (at West Georgia)and Jason Popovich (vs. Harding) and .
- The Statesmen have outscored opponents 116-53 in innings 3-7 and 79-32 in innings 4-7.
- The Statesmen are 5-0 in games decided by two runs or less and 12-0 when scoring six or more runs in a game.
- The Statesmen are 14-1 when leading after six innings and 9-1 when hitting two or more home runs.
- Brian Lane and Zack Shannon are tied for the team lead with 12 multi-hit games. Shannon has six three-hit games and one four-hit game. Lane has 11 two-hit games and one four-hit game.
- Zack Shannon has recorded 12 multi-RBI games, including three games with five-plus RBIs, including a seven RBI outing against Harding.
- Brian Lane enters the West Georgia series reaching base in 19 straight games while Zack Shannon has reached base safely in 18-straight games with a 12 game hitting streak.
