Baseball Takes On Nationally-Ranked Southern Miss In Midweek Match On Wednesday

NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans baseball team wraps up a six-game road swing on Wednesday, Mar. 29, when the Privateers venture to Hattiesburg, Mississippi for a midweek bout against No. 25 Southern Miss at 6 p.m.

Wednesday's game will be the second time the two sides are playing against each other this season, and the 104^th all-time meeting. In their first matchup this season, a Mar. 8 midweek tilt at Maestri Field, Southern Miss held the Privateers scoreless to take a 6-0 victory. Junior outfielder Tristan Clarke led UNO in the batter's box with a pair of hits, while freshman left handed pitcher Christopher DeMayo logged a season-high six innings on the mound, striking out four USM batters while allowing two runs off six hits.

"Obviously they are going to be tough," head coach Blake Dean said. "We played them earlier in the year here and they beat us pretty good. We are going to need a strong outing from [Christopher] DeMayo and hope to get five or six innings out of him. Our starting pitchers have done a good job this season, but we need to work on our consistency on offense. Our offense is what is going to win ballgames; we need to work on getting better at bats and getting big hits when we need them."

New Orleans (14-11) enters the midweek bout after going 1-2 against Central Arkansas over the weekend.

UNO boasts one of the top offenses in the Southland Conference, leading the conference in sacrifice flies (17), while ranking  second in hits (265), runs batted in (156), doubles (60), slugging percentage (.461), and third in batting average (.300), on base percentage (.386), runs scored (168) and home runs (22). Clarke leads the team with a .351 batting average, while leading the entire SLC in slugging percentage (.754), total bases (70) and home runs (8), plus ranking second in RBI (28) and 10^th in hits (33).

On the mound, the Privateers rank second in the league in strikeouts (207), while ranking fifth in opposing batting average (.263) and seventh in ERA (4.43). Sophomore left handed pitcher Bryan Warzek leads UNO with a 1.25 ERA, 42 strikeouts and a .231 opposing batting average which all rank in the top-15 of the Southland Conference at second, third and 13^th respectively. Junior Shawn Semple also ranks in the league's top-15 in strikeouts and ERA with 40 and 3.03, placing him fifth and 13^th.

Southern Miss (19-5) enters the game as victors of 10 of its last 11 to crack the national polls with a No. 25 ranking by Collegiate Baseball and D1Baseball.com. They play against South Alabama today before Wednesday's contest which will end their five-game homestand.

The Golden Eagles have 34 home runs so far this season, the ninth-most in Division I, while leading Conference-USA in hits (260) and runs scored (199), second in their league in slugging percentage (.488),  and ranking third in batting average (.305), and RBI (178). Braley leads USM with a .349 batting average with 56 total bases, 24 RBI, seven home runs and a .662 ERA. Burdeaux leads Conference-USA with 28 RBI, while ranking second on the team with six home runs.

Southern Miss is also one of the best teams in their conference on the mound, ranking second in ERA (3.73), opposing batting average (.248) and strikeouts (224). Nick Sandlin has thrown 20 innings for the Golden Eagles without allowing an earned run, picking up five victories in nine relief appearances, while Hayden Roberts has a team-best 46 strikeouts.

The Privateers are back at Maestri Field on Friday, Mar. 31 when UNO hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6:30 to start a Southland Conference series. For tickets to future Privateers athletic events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) and season tickets can be purchased over the Internet by clicking HERE.