TAMPA SUPER REGIONAL NOTES
CLEVELAND, Miss. -- No. 5 /18 Delta State University (42-12) will face a familiar foe when it travels to play No. 1 seed the University of Tampa (39-14) in the NCAA South Super Regional on Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25 at the UT Baseball Field in Tampa, Fla. The best of three series starts on Friday at 1 p.m. (CDT) with game two scheduled for Saturday at 12 p.m. followed by an if necessary game 3:30 p.m. (CDT).
 
33rd NCAA Tournament Appearance: Delta State is making its 33rd NCAA postseason appearance and its 7th NCAA South Regional Tournament appearance in eight years. The Statesmen have hosted NCAA Regional Tournaments 12 times (1978, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2017, 2019) in school history and for the second time in three years. Delta State owns 12 regional titles, including 6 under Head Coach Mike Kinnison. Delta State has a 73-44 NCAA regional tournament record and is 21-11 in the NCAA South Regional. The Statesmen defeated the University of West Alabama 6-4 to claim their last regional crown in 2017. The Green-and-White defeated Stillman College (5-2,10-7) twice on the final day to claim the 2012 regional crown and finish runner-up in the NCAA Division II National Championship in Carey, N.C.

100th NCAA POSTSEASON WIN: Delta State's 6-4 win over Valdosta State on Friday, May 17 was the Statesmen's 100th NCAA Postseason win and advanced the Statesmen to the winners bracket final of the NCAA South 2 Regional. The Statesmen went 3-0 in the regional to improve to 101-65 (.608) all-time in NCAA Postseason play which includes a 28-21 NCAA Division II World Series record and a 73-44 mark in regional tournaments.

ARMED & DANGEROUS: The DSU pitching staff leads the GSC in ERA (2.69/1st NCAA), shutouts (8 /4th NCAA), in saves (13), hits allowed per nine innings (7.38/2nd NCAA), fewest runs (170), fewest earned runs (133), and opponent batting average (.221). The Statesmen are 2nd in fewest hits allowed (367) and 3rd strikeouts (391).  Dalton Minton is tied for 1st in wins (11/5th NCAA) and 6th in ERA (3.01)  Hunter Riggins is 1st in the GSC in wins (11/5th NCAA), ERA (2.03), games started (15) and innings pitched (102.0), and T3rd in strikeouts looking (24) and 5th in strikeouts (81). Seth Hougesen is 3rd in ERA (2.45/35th NCAA), 2nd in wins (9), 8th in fewest runs allowed (20), 7th fewest earned runs allowed (16). Melvin Frazier is 1st in hits allowed per nine innings (5.19/3rd NCAA), and opponent batting average (.171), T5th in wins (6) and 12th in strikeouts (60).

STATESMEN WIN SOUTH REGION 2: Darek Sargent belted two home runs and drove in four runs to help the No. 2 seed Delta State University baseball team win the NCAA South 2 Region Tournament with a 9-6 win over Valdosta State on Saturday at Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field. Sargent went 2-for-4 with two home runs, four RBIs, four runs scored and two walks. Trailing 4-3, the Statesmen drew three walks with the bases loaded to take a 6-4 lead and took an 8-5 lead in the seventh on an RBI single by CJ Estave and a Matt Majeur sac-fly. Seth Hougesen (8-0) yielded five runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings to for his ninth win of the season and TJ Childree worked 1.1 innings with a strikeout to notch his GSC leading eighth save.

D2CCA ALL-SOUTH REGION: Jake Barlow and pitcher Hunter Riggins were named to the D2CAA First-Team All-South Region and are eligible for the D2CCA All-American ballot.  Barlow is a First-Team All-Gulf South Conference selection and earned GSC and NCBWA South Region Player of the Week honors this season. Riggins was also named First-Team All-GSC and was selected the GSC and NCBWA South Region Pitcher of the Week once. Overall, 14 players from the Gulf South Conference were scattered throughout the D2CCA First and Second-Teams. Joining Riggins and Barlow on the first-team from the GSC are Tyler Krabbe (C/ Montevallo), Blaine Crim, (1B/Mississippi College), DJ King (SS/Valdosta St.), Miguel Pimentel (3B/Lee University), Cade Marlowe(OF/West Georgia), Matt Sullivan (OF/West Florida), Andrew Vaccacio (P/West Florida) GSC second team members include: Logan Taylor, (1B/West Georgia), Jowenrick Daantji (2B/Valdosta State, Josh Broughton (3B/Valdosta St.), Matthew Estrada (OF/West Florida, Tony Kucera (P/West Florida).

vs. RANKED OPPONENTS: Delta State is 11-4 against teams ranked in either the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper or the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Polls this season.  2019 Ranked Opponents: Arkansas Tech (1-1), Mississippi College (2-1), Southern Arkansas (3-0), Arkansas Monticello (2-0), and West Florida (3-2).

HEATING UP IN THE POSTSEASON: As a team, the Statesmen are hitting .315 with 17 doubles, nine home runs, three triples and have outscored opponents 69-31 through nine postseason games. CJ Estave is hitting .469 with two home runs, 11 RBIs and is slugging .656. David Herrington is hitting .425 with four doubles, nine runs scored, five RBIs and five stolen bases. Darek Sargent is batting .351 with 13 runs scored five doubles, two triples, three home runs and 11 RBIs. Brett Young has .305 average with five RBIs and six runs scored. The Statesmen have a 3.04 ERA with 52 strikeouts against 24 walks and have allowed 31 runs on 26 earned with two shutouts in nine games on the mound. 

GOING WITH TWO; Delta State scored 69 runs in the nine postseason games and have 25 two-RBIs. The Statesmen scored 20 runs in the NCAA South 2 Regional with 8 two-out RBIs. Overall this season, the Statesmen have scored 364 runs and have 108 two-out RBIs. Matt Majeur and Darek Sargent lead the Statesmen with 14 two-out RBIs followed by CJ Estave with 13, and Jake Barlow and Estave with 12. 

TEAM RECORDS WATCH: The Statesmen enter the NCAA Super Region Series Tournament 1st on the DSU single-season list with a .969 team fielding percentage.  The pitching staff ranks 3rd on DSU single-season saves list with 13. 

Single-season WINS WATCH: Sophomore Hunter Riggins and senior Dalton Minton each notched their 11th wins of the season in the NCAA South 2 Region Tournament in Cleveland, Miss. The duo is now tied for 6th on DSU's single sesaon wins list with most recent 11-game winners Aaron Newcomb (2012), Brett Durand (2007), and Rusty Rayborn (2006).

GSC OFFENSIVE NUMBERS: Jake Barlow's name is scattered atop he GSC statistics, ranking 1st in triples (5/22nd NCAA), T3rd in home runs (11), 6th in slugging (.600) and RBIs (53) and hits (67). Darek Sargent is 5th in RBIs (53), 2nd in sac-flies (7 /12th NCAA). David Herrington is 5th in stolen bases (15) and T6th in hits (67). Josh Russell is T4th with six sac-flies.

DOUBLE DOWN: Junior Darek Sargent is tied for 4th in the GSC with 17 doubles and needs three doubles to move into a tie for 7th on the DSU single-season doubles chart with Ricky Noland (2007), Clay Sartain (2007), Craig Newton (2004) and Bert Pickard (2004).  Will Robertson (28/2016) and Trent Giambrone (21/2016) were the Statesmen to record 17 or more doubles in a season.  

SHUTOUTS: Hunter Riggins' three shutouts this season ranks second on the DSU single-season shutouts list. Pete Albritton (1874) and Tom Hostetler (1997) own the single-season record with four shutouts. Riggins has posted shutouts against Union University (8.0 IP | 2 H | 8 Ks | 5 BB), Valdosta State (7.0 IP | 6 H | 5 Ks | 0 BB), and West Florida (9.0 IP | 2 H | 4 Ks | 3 BB).

WALTON APPEARANCES: Tyler Walton has made 21 relief appearances out of the DSU bullpen and is three shy of moving into a tie for fifth on the DSU single-season appearances list. Walton, who has been used in middle relief and as a closer, has a 2-1 record and two saves. The Germantown, Tenn., native has a 0.63 ERA with 19 strikeouts against 10 walks and has allowed two runs on 15 hits in 28.2 innings pitched.

DOUBLE-DIGIT HITS: The Statesmen have recorded double-digit hits in 26 of 54 games this season and in 13 of their last 18 games heading into the NCAA South Super Regional. DSU collected a season-high 18 hits in a 10-0 win over Valdosta State (5.3.19) in the GSC Tournament opener,  David Herrington leads the team with 22 multi-hit games, including 5 three-hit outings.  Jake Barlow has 18 multi-hit games, including 7 games with three-plus hits

TRIPLES WATCH: Jake Barlow has 5 triples and needs one triple to tie for fourth on the Delta State single-season triples list. Brandon Cummins owns the DSU Single-season record with nine.  Additionally, Barlow has belted 11 home runs and needs 3 homers to move into the top 10 on the school's single-season home runs list. Ricky Noland (2008) and Jud Thigpen (2004) ranked ninth with 14 home runs.

SAVES WATCH: Junior closer TJ Childree tallied to saves in the NCAA South 2 Regional to take over 1st in the GSC statistics with 8 saves. Childree is now tied for third with Zach Osbon (2017) and Brandon Hardin (2012) on DSU's single-season saves list.  

SWIPING BAGS; Senior David Herrington leads the Statesmen with 15 stolen bases in 16 attempts and is 5-for-5 in the postseason. Herrington is first Statesmen to steal 11 bases or more bases since his brother Dex Herrington and Jordan Chovanec swiped 19 bags apiece in 2014.  Dex Herrington stole 19 basses in 21 attempts and Chovanec had 19 steals in 24 attempts. that season.

R-E-L-I-E-F: Through 54 games, the Statesmen bullpen has posted a 4-2 record and a GSC leading 13 saves. The 13 saves are one away from moving into 3rd in a single-season. Relievers have a combined 2.88 ERA, 130 strikeouts and 62 walks while yielding 53 runs, 46 earned, on 114 hits in 147.0 innings. Opponents are hitting .222 against the Statesmen pen this year. Tyler Walton has a 2-1 record with two saves and a 0.63 ERA while allowing two runs on 15 hits with 19 strikeouts against 10 walks in 28.2 innings.  Tommy Childree has a 1.10 ERA with 18 strikeouts against two walks and leads the GSC with 8 saves.  Childree, who notched two saves against Valdosta State in the NCAA South 2 Regional, has allowed just three runs, two earned, in 16.1 innings pitched this season.