Complete Week 9 Notes

CLEVELAND, Miss. -- No. 6/8 Delta State University (21-6, 11-3 GSC) hosts Christian Brothers (9-21, 3-12 GSC) for a three-game Gulf South Conference series this weekend at Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field. The series begins with a doubleheader on Friday at 2 p.m. and concludes with a single game on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Statesmen are looking to rid themselves of the sour taste from a 2-1 series defeat to visiting Shorter University last weekend at Ferriss Field.

GAME DAY TICKETS: Tickets for doubleheaders are $8 and single games are $5 for all areas of Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field. Admission will be charged for entrance into left field for the remainder of the season.

DATES	OPPONENTS	VIDEO	LIVE STATS	CBU TEAM INFO
Fri., March 30	vs. Christian Brothers (DH) | 2 p.m.	Watch	GM 1 | GM 2	Roster | Schedule | Stats
Fri., March 31	vs. Christian Brothers | 2 p.m.	Watch	GM 3	@DeltaStateBSB
Matt Jones (PBP), Cody Clark (Color) | Statesmen Audio | Radio | MAJIC 107.5 FM (Cleveland)

Records Watch: Zack Shannon's 21 home runs tie him with Dee Haynes (1998) for third on the single-season home runs list. He has also moved into a tie for third with Craig Newton (2002-04) with 40 career home runs. Shannon has homered in 12 of the last 16 games including a stretch of eight straight games before last week's loss at Mississippi Valley State. Clay Casey has hit 26 career round-trippers to tie Sonny Clay (1973-76) for eighth on the all-time list.

Bash Brothers: Zack Shannon and Clay Casey have been a feared one-two punch in the middle of the lineup for the Statesmen. In 325 career at bats, Shannon has 40 home runs. That's a home run for every 7.92 at bats for his career and is homering every 5.04 at bats this season. 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. Shannon and Casey have homered in the same game five times this season and the Statesmen are 5-0 in those games while the Statesmen are 14-2 when Shannon clubs a home run. Shannon has five multiple home run games this season and six for his career, yielding a 6-0 mark. Casey and Shannon have hit home runs in the same game five times for a 5-0 record. Shannon has homered in 16-of-27 games in 2018 and 34-of-85 career games while Casey has home runs in 23-of-84 career games and 7-of-27 games this season.

At Ferriss Field: The Statesmen are 6-2 this season and 986-286-4 all-time in the friendly confines of Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field. The Statesmen have lost their last two games at home and enter the weekend hitting .305 with 16 home runs, 15 doubles and have out scored opponents 68-33 at home this year. Four Statesmen are batting .300 or better led by Zack Shannon hitting at a. 500 clip with eight home runs and 23 RBIs while slugging 1.464 with a .515 on base percentage. Brian Lane follows with a .440 average, and a .559 on base percentage and nine RBIs. Emil Ellis is hitting .333 with one home run and five RBIs. Jason Popovich is hitting .370 with a 13 RBIs, two doubles, a triple and a home run. On the mound, the Statesmen own a 3.80 ERA and opponents are hitting .237 against.

So Far This Week: Zack Shannon and Clay Casey combined for four home runs and nine RBIs to lead No. 6/8 Delta State to a 26-4 win over No. 24 Southern Arkansas (19-9) on Tuesday at Goodheart Field. Jamell Newson added a pinch-hit grand slam in the seventh as the game ended in the seventh inning due to the NCAA mercy rule. All nine starters in the Statesmen lineup recorded at least one hit. Shannon went 3-for-3 with five RBIs and five runs scored and Popovich was 3-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored. Casey, Lane, Russell and Nussbaum had two hits apiece. DSU starter Seth Hougesen (1-0) tossed three innings, yielding two runs on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk to pick up the win.



GSC NUMBERS Delta State ranks in the GSC's top five in 14 categories, leading in home runs (44), slugging percentage (.514), RBIs (230), runs scored (230) and total bases (497). The Statesmen are second in on base percentage (.416), fewest strikeouts (138) and hit by pitch (114). DSU is third in batting average (.321 and sacrifice flies (18) while ranking fourth in hits (310), doubles (47) and fifth in at bats (966).

Individual GSC Numbers Zack Shannon leads the GSC in six offensive categories, including batting average (.462), home runs (21), RBIs (58), hits (58), runs scored (45), and slugging percentage (1.117) and second in on base percentage (.535). Shannon is also tied for third in triples (2) and fourth in doubles (9). Clay Casey tied for third in home runs (9) and sacrifice flies (3) while tied for sixth in RBIs (38). Brian Lane leads the GSC in hit by a pitch (15) and is third in runs scored (33) and is tied for sixth in RBIs (30) and hits (38). Jason Popovich is tied for third in sac-flies (3) and tied for fifth in runs (31) and at bats (116). Juwan Burney and Nick Morgan are tied for third in sac-flies (3).

IN THE GSC The Green-and-White enter the series with CBU owning an all-time 604-220-1 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.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING Delta State is 10th nationally in runs per game (9.3) and 36th in batting average (.311). Zack Shannon ranks in the top 10 in eight offensive categories, leading the country in home runs (21), home runs per game (0.73), RBIs (58), slugging percentage (1.117), and total bases (125) and RBIs per game (2.04). Shannon is fourth in runs scored per game (1.54) and sixth in runs scored (45). Brian Lane is eighth in hit by pitch (15) and Seth Birdsong is 17th in wins (5). Dalton Minton is tied for fourth in wins (4) and Peyton White is tied for third in saves (3).

DOUBLE DIGIT STRIKEOUTS Statesmen pitchers have combined for double-figure strikeouts six times, recording a season-high 15 against Nebraska-Kearney and has at least eight strikeouts in 15-of-27 games. Most recently, the Statesmen fanned 11 against Arkansas-Monticello and 12 against Mississippi Valley State.

TOUGHEST TO K Emil Ellis, Brian Lane, Jason Popovich and Josh Russell are among the GSC's top hitters as the toughest to strikeout. Lane is second in the GSC and 18th in the nation striking out one in every 20.6 at bats while Ellis is sixth and 26th striking out once every 13.1 at bats. Popovich is 10th in the GSC and 111 nationally (11.1) and Russell is 12th in the GSC and 127th in the NCAA (9.9).

DOUBLE DIGIT HITS & RUNS The Statesmen have scored double-figure hits18 times and double-figure runs 18 times in 2018. The Statesmen tied a season-high 21 hits while plating 26 runs at Southern Arkansas (3.27). The Green-and-White pounded out 21 runs on 21 hits against Nova Southeastern (2.3) earlier this season.

MISCELLANEOUS NUMBERS

• EXTRA INNINGS: The Statesmen are 2-1 in extra innings with wins over Nebraska-Kearny (2.10) and Valdosta State (2.24). DSU dropped a 6-5 decision in 10 innings to Mississippi Valley State (3.21).
• TWO OUTS: The Statesmen are hitting .313 with two outs and have 79 two-out RBIs and 10 home runs in 316 at bats with two outs. Zack Shannon sports a .472 (17-for-36) average with 20 RBIs and Josh Russell is hitting.444 (12-for-27) with two outs. Clay Casey has 12 and Justin Nussbaum has 10 two-out RBIs.
• LOAD 'EM UP: DSU is hitting .351 (20-for-57) but is two for their last 17 with the bases loaded. The Statesmen have five grand slams: Justin Nussbuam (vs. Nova Southeastern), Brian Lane (vs. Palm Beach Atlantic), Clay Casey (at West Georgia), Jason Popovich (vs. Harding) and Jamell Newson (at Southern Arkansas).
• RISP: The Green-and-White owns a .346 average with runners in scoring position. Zack Shannon has a .462 average (18-for-39) followed Brian Lane with a .419 average (3-for-9).
• SCORING: The Statesmen have outscored opponents 262-142 this season and 157-81 in innings 3-7. The Statesmen have outscored opponents 25-7 in the fifth inning.
• RUN DIFFERENTIAL: DSU is 6-2 in games decided by two runs or less and 14-3 in games decided by five-plus runs.
• The Statesmen are 18-2 when leading after six innings and 12-3 when clubbing multiple home runs.
• Zack Shannon leads the team with 17 multi-hit games that include seven three-hit games. Brian Lane has 12 multi-hit games followed by Emil Ellis with 11 and Jason Popovich with 10.
• Zack Shannon has recorded 16 multi-RBI games, including nine games with three-plus RBIs and a seven-RBI outing against Harding.
• Zack Shannon has reached base safely in 77-of-85 career games to date as a Statesmen.
• OFF THE BENCH: Payton Lane is 3-for-4 for a .750 average while David Herrington has a .333 (2-for-6) as a pinch hitter. Tyler Brown and Juwan Burney are 1-for-2 off the pine.
• STREAKING STATESMEN: Jason Popovich has reached base safely in his last 16 games and Clay Casey has reached safely in 10 straight games entering the CBU series.

GOOD TO BE HOME Delta State is enjoying its second straight home series this weekend after spending 17 of the first 27 games and eight of the last 12 games on the road. 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.

WHAT OUR HATS REPRESENT Delta State wears a solid green hat and a white and green hat with the Old English D which started being worn during the Coach Bill Marchant era that spanned eight seasons. The black hat/green bill with a blocked D was worn during the Coach Ferriss era that spanned two stints over 26 years.