No. 1/7 Delta State University (40-9, 23-5 GSC) travels to Lakeland, Fla., for the 2018 NCAA Division II South Region Baseball Tournament hosted by top seed Florida Southern University on May 17-21.
The third-seeded Statesmen open tournament play against #6 seed and Gulf South Conference Tournament Champion Mississippi College on Thursday, May 17 at 9 a.m. (CT) at Henley Field. No. 2 Tampa will face #7 Albany State at 2 p.m., and No. 4 Nova Southeastern will battle No. 5 Montevallo at 6 p.m.
Records Watch: Zack Shannon joined some elite company with his 29th home run of the season against Mississippi College in the GSC Tournament. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native not only pushed the school record higher, but is tied with Mississippi State University's Bruce Castoria (1981) and Rafael Palmeiro (1984) for the state of Mississippi's single-season home run record. Shannon can become the first ever player in the state to hit 30 home runs with one more round tripper. Earlier this year, Shannon passed Dee Haynes (1999) for the DSU single-season home runs mark with his home run in the North Alabama series. Shannon's 48 career bombs are second all-time behind Haynes' (1998-2000) 69 career bombs. Shannon's 86 RBIs rank third and is seven RBIs shy of Haynes' record of 92 (1999). His 184 total bases are second in a single-season, needing 14 more bases to break Haynes' (1999) single-season record of 197. Shannon has driven in 174 career runs which rank seventh in school history. He needs three RBIs to move to pass Casey Myrick's (1995-98) mark of 176 and 12 RBIs to move into fifth. Shannon's 184 total bases are ranked fifth on the DSU single-season total bases list.
Clay Casey's 17 long balls this season match his 2017 total for sixth on the single-season home runs list while his 34 career bombs stand alone in sixth. Casey needs two home runs to pass Barry Lyons (1979-82) for fifth. Shannon is also showing up in some GSC single-season and career categories. He ranks third in total bases (184) in a single-season, second in single-season home runs (29) and fourth in career home runs (48).
2018 NCAA South Region Schedule
THURSDAY, MAY 17
GAME 1 • #6 Mississippi College vs. #3 Delta State | 11 a.m.
GAME 2 • #7 Albany State vs. #2 Tampa | 3 p.m.
GAME 3 • #4 Nova Southeastern will battle #5 Montevallo | 7 p.m
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FRIDAY, MAY 18
GAME 4 • Loser of GM 1 vs. Loser GM 2 | 11 a.m.
GAME 5 • #1 Florida Southerm vs. GM 3 Winner | 3 p.m.
GAME 6 • Winner GM 2 vs. Winner GM 1 | 7 p.m.
SATURDAY, MAY 19
GAME 7 • Winner GM 4 vs. Loser GM 5 | 11 a.m.
GAME 8 • Loser GM 6 vs. Loser GM 3 | 3 p.m.
GAME 9 • Winner GM 5 vs. Winner GM 6 | 7 p.m
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SUNDAY, MAY 20
GAME 10 •Winner GM 8 vs. Loser GM 7 | 12 p.m.
GAME 11 • Winner GM 10 vs. Loser GM 9 | 3:30 p.m.
MONDAY, MAY 21
GAME 12 • Winner GM 9 vs. Winner GM 11 | 12 p.m.
GAME 13 • If Necessary
BIRDSONG APPROACHING WINS
Senior righty
Seth Birdsong is 8-0 this season and has an 18-2 career record entering the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament. The Brownsville, Tenn., native is two wins from tying Josh Melton (1995-96) for 10th on the school's career wins list. Birdsong has started 14 games with 75 strikeouts against 33 walks while yielding 49 runs, 40 earned, on 87 hits in 88 innings pitched this season. Opponents have a .252 batting average against the righty and he carries a 4.09 ERA into the NCAA South Region.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
Entering the NCAA South Regional Tournament, Delta State leads the GSC in 14 categories and ranks in the top 10 in nine NCAA categories with three more categories ranking in the top 20. The Green-and-White is first in batting average (.330/8th NCAA), runs scored (465/4th NCAA), scoring per game (9.5/1st NCAA), hits (580/9th NCAA), home runs (67/20th NCAA), home runs per game (1.37/18th NCAA), RBIs (425), total bases (888), slugging percentage (.506/16th NCAA), on base percentage (.428/5th NCAA), sacrifice flies (34/9th NCAA), fewest strikeouts (244), at bats (1755), and hit by pitch (91/7th NCAA). DSU is second in walks (234/34th NCAA) and fourth doubles (92). The Statesmen also are fourth in fielding percentage (.963). In the GSC pitching stats, the Statesmen rank fourth in strikeouts (391) and are tied for second in saves (11). DSU's winning percentage (.816) ranks fourth in the country.
BASH BROTHERS
Seniors
Zack Shannon and
Clay Casey make up the collegiate version of the Bash Brothers and are prominent in the current GSC and National statistics. Shannon leads the GSC and NCAA in home runs (29), home runs per game (.59), RBIs (86), RBIs per game (1.76), total bases (184) and slugging percentage (.989).
Shannon also paces the GSC and ranks in the top 12 nationally in batting average (.425/11th NCAA), on base percentage (.523/10th NCAA), hits (79/25th NCAA) and runs per game (1.45/5th NCAA). Shannon leads the GSC in runs scored (71/3rd NCAA) and hits (79/25th NCAA).
Casey ranks second in the GSC in RBIs (65/18th NCAA), RBIs per game (1.33/15th NCAA), home runs (17/17th NCAA), home runs per game (.33/21st NCAA. He is fourth in slugging percentage (.689/62nd NCAA) and eighth in hits (69).
OTHER GSC NUMBERS
- Brian Lane is second in runs scored (53/36th NCAA) and first in hit by pitch (23/4th NCAA) in the GSC. Lane is also tied for fourth in RBIs (51/44th NCAA).
- Emil Ellis is second in runs scored (57/44th NCAA) and second in runs scored per game (1.21/24th NCAA). He is third in the GSC in on base percentage (.505/22nd NCAA) and sixth in hits (70).
- Jason Popovich ranks fifth in runs scored (43) and 10th in hits (67).
- Nick Morgan is first in the GSC and 10th in the NCAA with seven six sac-flies.
- Seth Birdsong and Dalton Minton are tied for second in the GSC in wins (8/25th NCAA) while Birdsong ranks sixth in innings pitch (81.0) and 14th in strikeouts (65). Tyler Walton is tied for fifth in wins (6)
- Hunter Riggins is tied for second in saves (6) and Peyton White is fourth in saves (5).
AGAINST THE TOURNAMENT FIELD
The Statesmen are 178-68-2 overall and 61-23 under head coach
Mike Kinnison against the 2018 NCAA South Region Tournament field. The Statesmen are 5-9 in NCAA postseason games against the field.
- Tampa: 6-3 overall | 4-3 under Kinnison | 1-1 NCAA Reg. | 4-1 NCAA WS
- FSC: 10-9 overall | 10-5 under Kinnison | 0-1 NCAA Reg. | 1-5 NCAA WS
- Nova SE: 9-5 overall | 9-5 under Kinnison | 3-2 NCAA Tourn.
- Miss. College: 121-43 overall | 8-5 under Kinnison | 0-0 GSC Tourn.
- Montevallo: 32-8 overall | 30-5 under Kinnison | 0-0 NCAA
- Albany State: 0-0 overall | 0-0 under Kinnison | 0-0 NCAA
CASEY, LANE EARN GSC ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
Seniors
Clay Casey and
Brian Lane were named to the 2018 Gulf South Conference All-Tournament. Casey hit .455 going 5-for-11 with a double, two home runs, three RBIs and four runs scored over three GSC tournament games. Casey also slugged 1.091 and had a .533 on base percentage. Lane went 6-for-11 with for a 545 average, a double, a run scored and three RBIs while slugging .636 and a .667 on base percentage.
KINNISON, SHANNON NAB GSC's TOP HONORS
Delta University head coach
Mike Kinnison and senior
Zack Shannon were named the Gulf South Conference Coach and Player of the Year for the second straight season by a vote of the league's head coaches on Tuesday, March 2, 2018.
Kinnison claims his ninth GSC Coach of the Year honor and is a back-to-back winner for the third time. The 22-year veteran previously won COY honors in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2017. Kinnison has a 935-296-2 record at DSU and has won seven GSC titles, six regional titles, made six NCAA Division II College World Series appearances, captured the 2004 NCAA Division II National title and a runner-up finish in 2012 during his decorated career.
Statesmen skippers have claimed GSC Coach of the Year honors 16 times overall. Dave "Boo" Ferriss (1978, 1979, 1985, 1988) earned the honor four times while Bill Marchant (1991, 1994, 1996) claimed the honor three times during their tenures.
Shannon is the second Statesmen to bring home back-to-back GSC Player of the Year honors, matching Dee Haynes, who was named Player of the Year in 1998 and 1999. The Cincinnati, Ohio, native is a GSC record 11th Statesman to claim the conference's top honor.
FIVE STATESMEN NAMED ALL GSC
Five Statesmen earned All-GSC selections announced by the League office prior to the GSC Tournament.
Zack Shannon (1B),
Emil Ellis (2B),
Clay Casey (OF), and
Seth Birdsong (SP) were All-GSC First-Team selections while
Brian Lane (DH) was honored as a Second-Team All-GSC selection.
TOUGHEST TO K
Brian Lane,
Jason Popovich,
Emil Ellis and
Josh Russell rank among the GSC leaders as the toughest to strikeout. Lane is second in the GSC and 13th nationally, striking out once every 17.1 at bats while Popovich is fourth (13.3/40th NCAA), Ellis is 10th (19.9/134th NCAA and Russell is 11th (9.3/183rd NCAA).
DOUBLE-DIGIT HITS & RUNS
- Delta State leads the GSC and NCAA in scoring averaging, posting 9.5 runs per game. DSU has score double figure runs in 23-of-49 games and has scored at least eight runs in 29-of-49 games this season.
- The Green-and-White has notched double-figure hits in 32-of-49 games. The Statesmen pounded out a season-high 25 hits in a 25-16 win over Arkansas Tech (4.17) and had 21 hits against Nova Southeastern (2.3).
- The Statesmen had 21 runs on 21 hits against Nova Southeastern (2.3), 26 runs on 21 hits at Southern Arkansas (3.27), and 25 runs on 25 hits at Arkansas Tech (4.17).
MISCELLANEOUS NUMBERS
EXTRA INNINGS: The Statesmen are 4-3 in extra innings with wins over Nebraska-Kearny (2.10), Valdosta State (2.24), Union (4.10) and Mississippi College (4.29). DSU extra inning decisions to Mississippi Valley State (10 inn./3.21), Lee (4.15) and to Mississippi College (11 inn./5.8) in the GSC Tournament.
DSU is 11-3 in games decided by two runs or less and 23-3 in games decided by five-plus runs.
The Statesmen are 33-3 when holding the lead after six innings, 26-5 when clubbing at least one home run in a game and 18-when hitting two-plus home runs.
Two outs: The Statesmen have scored 465 runs with 152 two-out RBIs for 32.7 percent of the total runs. DSU is hitting .326 with two outs and 15 home runs in 580 at bats with two outs.
Zack Shannon sports a .450 average and 27 two-out RBIs.
Emil Ellis is batting .438 with two outs with 18 two-out RBIs while
Clay Casey has 33 two-out RBIs with a .345 average.
LOAD 'EM UP: DSU is hitting .412 (42-for-102) with the bases loaded. The Statesmen have seven grand slams:
Justin Nussbaum (vs. Nova Southeastern),
Brian Lane (vs. Palm Beach Atlantic and Mississippi College),
Clay Casey (at West Georgia/at Union),
Jason Popovich (vs. Harding) and
Jamell Newson (at So. Arkansas). Lane's grand slam against Mississippi College came with the game tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 11th.
RISP: The Green-and-White sport a .369 average with runners in scoring position.
Emil Ellis is hitting .516 (32-of-62) and
Zack Shannon has a .435 average (30-for-69).
OFF THE BENCH: Payton Lane is 4-for-6 with a .667 average while
David Herrington has a .429 (3-for-7) average with two home runs as pinch-hitters.
TRAVELING STATESMEN
Delta State has logged over 8,141 round trip miles on the road during the 2018 season including 3,887.0 miles over the first 11 games in 2018. The Green-and-White logged 2,120.2 miles on the Florida swing 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., open the season. Delta State added 410 miles for a trip to Arkadelphia, Ark., for three games against Ouachita Baptist, Henderson State and Nebraska-Kearney on Feb. 9-10. Add 1,036.8 miles for the trip to Quincy University for three games against Southern Indiana and Quincy. The NCAA Division II South Region pushed the total round trip miles to 10,574 miles.
