James Ewing
Southern Miss was the only team to post a series sweep in Conference USA play this weekend as the Golden Eagles took three in a row at UCF. After posting a 6-2 win in the opener on Friday, the Golden Eagles broke out the bats in a big way during a Saturday doubleheader, scoring 45 total runs. The 26 runs scored in game one established a new USM school record. Senior SS Brian Dozier led the way in the twin-bill, combining to go six-for-nine with two home runs, seven runs, nine RBI, 12 total bases, two walks and a sacrifice fly.
First place East Carolina retained its conference lead by taking two-of-three at Marshall. The Pirates won the opener on Friday, 7-6, on a Ryan Wood RBI single, played six more innings in a tie ball game that day but had to wait until Sunday morning to finish the series. ECU won the resumed game two, 5-1, as Brad Mincey earned his fifth win of the season with three innings of solid relief. Marshall avoided the sweep with a 6-2 victory in Sunday’s second game. Freshman DH Thor Meeks hit a two-out, three-run home run to spark the Herd’s victory.
Memphis surprised Rice in game one on Friday night, 10-7, as junior C Shawn Ablett reached base five times, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. It was just the Tigers second win over the Owls in the four-year history of the series. Rice bounced back to take the final two games of the series, 12-4 and 9-5. Sophomore SS Rick Hague had a pair of hits in each contest and freshman Taylor Wall, starting in place of Mike Ojala, earned a win with a career-long seven innings with six strikeouts.
Tulane opened its series with Houston by posting a 6-2 victory, as Conrad Flynn threw eight solid innings and Seth Henry went 3-for-4 with a home run and seven RBI. The Cougars rebounded with back-to-back victories for their second straight series victory. Houston posted 4-1 and 4-3 victories, as Cougar pitcher combined for 21 strikeouts in the two victories.
In non-conference action, UAB posted a convincing three-game sweep of Savannah State to improve to 14-10 on the season. The Blazers reached double-digit runs in the two of the wins, including 20 in Saturday’s win. UAB has now scored 10 or more runs in all but two of its victories, notching eight or more runs in all of them.
