Privateers Baseball Takes on Southern, Southern Miss to Start Busy Week

NEW ORLEANS AT SOUTHERN, VS. SOUTHERN MISS
APRIL 26-27 | 6:00 PM, 6:30 PM
LEE-HINES FIELD/MAESTRI FIELD AT FIRST NBC BALLPARK 

LIVE STATS (WED.) | TWITTER | AUDIO | VIDEO (WED.) | GAME NOTES (ADDED LATER...)


NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans baseball team (24-15) will start their last five-game week of the season on Tuesday when they also conclude a five-game road stretch against the Southern Jaguars (12-24) at Lee-Hines Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. The Privateers will then return home to face the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (29-12) on Wednesday at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark.
 
The Privateers enter the week off of their first Southland sweep since joining the conference in 2014 when UNO took all three against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders. The Privateers have won six straight entering play and Aaron Palmer has extended his hitting streak to 12 games, matching a season high by any Privateer.
 
We took advantage of early scenarios presented to us and we hit a few of their guys around, said Coach Blake Dean. "For us to be successful we have to take advantage of every situation and this past weekend we did a pretty good job of that."
 
Palmer entered the month of April with a .272 batting average and has since raised it 68 points while collecting a hit in 12 straight. Palmer has seven straight multi-hit efforts and racked up six more hits over the weekend against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Another streak that is developing involves Palmer's plate discipline: he has not struck out in the last nine games.
 
Jarred Taylor stepped up with a big weekend alongside Daniel Martinez to help the Privateers secure the sweep of the doubleheader on Saturday against the Islanders. Taylor struck out the side in the eighth inning of UNO's 4-2 victory in the front end of the doubleheader. In the series finale, Taylor matched his season high for innings (2.1) and picked up the win to move to 5-0.
 
"I would like to have saved a little bit of pitching for mid-week games but conference series are a must," said Dean who went through five pitchers on Saturday. "We extended Jarred this past weekend and he did a really good job of for us."
 
Southern played a three-game non-conference series against South Alabama over the weekend and took the series opener against the Sun Belt leaders. The Jaguars rallied back from a 4-1 deficit in the ninth inning to take a 5-4 victory. The Jaguars participated in the MLB Urban Youth Invitational earlier this season.
 
Dondrayas Harris leads all hitters with a .383 average. Harris also has nine doubles, two triples, and three home runs. Robinson Mateo (16), Ashanti Wheatley (11), and Javeayan Williams (10) are all in double digits in stolen bases.
 
Southern Miss capped their weekend with a walk-off victory over Rice to take the series. The Golden Eagles are 14-4 in conference play and defeated the Privateers the first time the two teams met in Hattiesburg.
 
Heading into the week, Jake Sandlin leads the team in batting average (.395). Taylor Braley has 10 home runs which co-leads Conference USA. Southern Miss is 11-9 in road/neutral site games compared to an 18-3 home mark. After this week, the Golden Eagles will close the regular season with seven of the last 10 games at Pete Taylor Park.
 
Season tickets for the 2016 campaign are available for as low as $125 and single-game tickets start at $5. For additional information, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or click HERE.
 
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