No. 13 Southern Miss (36-15, 20-7 Conference USA) at FIU (25-27, 12-15 C-USA)
Thursday, May 19: 6:30 p.m. (
PantherVision and
FIU Sports Radio Network)
USM RHP Cord Cockrell (7-1, 3.55 ERA) vs. FIU RHP
Cody Crouse (3-2, 3.79 ERA)
Friday, May 20: 6:30 p.m. (
PantherVision and
FIU Sports Radio Network)
USM LHP Kirk McCarty (6-0, 2.95 ERA) vs. FIU RHP
Chris Mourelle (6-5, 4.92 ERA)
Saturday, May 21: 11 a.m. (
PantherVision and
FIU Sports Radio Network)
USM RHP Walker Powell (4-2, 3.06 ERA) vs. FIU RHP
Andres Nunez (4-3, 4.96 ERA)
Series history: USM leads, 2-1
First meeting: March 13, 2015, FIU won 9-1 in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Last meeting: March 15, 2015, Southern Miss won 10-0 (7 innings) in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Series preview: The series features the top two hitting teams in Conference USA with Southern Miss hitting a league-leading .305 … It's simple for FIU to reach the Conference USA tournament – win one game and the Panthers are in or WKU and UAB each lose one game and FIU is in. The Panthers are currently in seventh place one half game ahead of Charlotte (11-15). UAB and WKU, both 10-17, trail by two games with three games to play … FIU owns the tiebreaker advantage with WKU and UAB but not Charlotte, losing the season series to the 49ers … Southern Miss is in a four-way tussle for the top seed with Rice, Florida Atlantic and Marshall. The Golden Eagles are tied with Rice for first place. FAU and Marshall trail by one game … The Conference USA tournament features the top eight teams in C-USA and begins next Wednesday, May 25 in Hattiesburg.
Team Leaders
Southern Miss
Team stats: (C-USA rank):
Average: .305 (1st)
ERA: 4.20 (5th)
Fielding pct.: .976 (2nd)
Individual leaders:
Average: Jake Sandlin .368
Home runs: Taylor Braley and Dylan Burdeaux 10
RBI: Tim Lynch 51
Stolen bases: Dylan Burdeaux 7
Wins: Cord Cockrell 7
ERA: Kirk McCarty 2.95
Strikeouts: Kirk McCarty 77
Saves: Nick Sandlin 10
FIU
Team stats: (C-USA rank):
Average: .295 (2nd)
ERA: 4.40 (7th)
Fielding pct.: .964 (11th)
Individual leaders:
Average: Irving Lopez .324
Home runs: Nick Day 8
RBI: Zach Files 29
Stolen bases: Kolby Follis 14
Wins: Chris Mourelle 6
ERA: Cody Crouse 3.79
Strikeouts: Chris Mourelle 50
Saves: Williams Durruthy 9
