Baseball Hosts Southern Miss In Midweek Game On Wednesday

NEW ORLEANS – For the third time this season, the University of New Orleans baseball team takes on an opponent that reached the 2016 NCAA Tournament when they host Southern Miss on Wednesday, Mar. 8 with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday's game will be the 100^th all-time meeting between the two sides, with Southern Miss holding a slim 50-49 advantage after winning 7-4 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi last season. In three games against the Golden Eagles, senior infielder Samuel Capielano has a career batting average of .385 with at least one RBI in every game for a total of five. Senior left handed pitcher Hunter Medine and junior right handed pitcher Jarred Taylor have both made two appearances on the mound against USM, combining for 6.2 innings and allowing three runs off seven hits with four strikeouts between the two.  

"Southern Miss is a well-coached team," head coach Blake Dean said. "Their coach has been there for a long time and always has a great team. They are going to be tough and play hard. We have to get big hits against them and limit our strikeouts in the batter's box if we want to win."

The Privateers enter the midweek contest after a successful 3-0 weekend, including two shutout victories against Alcorn State with the pitchers combining for a one-hitter on Friday.

UNO currently boasts one of the top offenses in Division I, leading the nation in doubles (38) while ranking fifth in doubles per game (3.17) and sacrifice flies (10), sixth in hits (147) and slugging percentage (.554) plus eighth in runs scored (107). The Privateers are hitting .336 on the season with 100 RBI and a Southland Conference-leading 16 home runs.

Junior outfielder Tristan Clarke leads the Privateers, and all of the Southland Conference, in hits (22), RBI (20) and home runs (5) while ranking second in batting average (.468) and doubles (7), third in slugging percentage (.979) and runs scored (16). His doubles totals ranks 11^th in the country, while his hits ranks 13^th and his runs scored are 18^th.

On the mound, the Privateers lead the Southland Conference in strikeouts (106), shutouts (4) and opposing batting average (.230), while ranking fourth in the conference in ERA (3.47) and hits allowed (91). Junior right handed pitcher Shawn Semple and sophomore Southpaw Bryan Warzek, UNO's Friday and Saturday starters, both have 21 strikeouts to rank fourth in the league while ranking fifth and sixth in ERA with 0.95 and 1.00 marks. Warzek is holding opponents batters to a .190 batting average, the eighth-lowest in the conference.

Southern Miss concludes a four-game road swing with their matchup against the Privateers, dropping two of three against No. 16 Louisiana-Lafayette but won the series finale 15-11 in 11 innings.

The Golden Eagles are one of the top scoring teams in the country, ranking 13^th in Division in runs per game with 9.0 Within Conference-USA, USM ranks second in RBI (86), third in home runs (13) and on base percentage (.411) plus fifth in slugging percentage (.446). Overall, the Golden Eagles are hitting .296 with 99 runs scored, 16 doubles and three triples.

On the mound, Southern Miss boasts a 3.47 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which ranks 20^th in Division I.  The Golden Eagles have a team ERA of 4.41, allowing 48 earned runs off 105 hits in 98 innings with 104 strikeouts and an opposing batting average of .282. Hayden Roberts leads Conference-USA with 25 strikeouts in 15.2 innings, while Nick Sandlin has a 0.00 ERA with a 2-0 record on the mound in 10 innings over four appearances with 16 strikeouts.

UNO begins Southland Conference play on Friday, Mar. 10 when they host Southeastern Louisiana in a televised contest starting at 6:30 p.m. 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.