Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Golden Eagles In Professional

Quick list of former Southern Miss players in professional baseball as of April 7, 2010.

Major League
None

Minor League

AAA
P Brent Leach - Albuquerque Isotopes (Dodgers)
2B Jarrett Hoffpauir - Las Vegas 51s (Blue Jays)
2B Marc Maddox - Omaha Royals (Royals)
P Bob McCrory - Pawtucket Red Sox (Red Sox)

AA
None

A Advanced
P Barry Bowden - Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals)
P Tyler Conn - Lakeland Flying Tigers (Tigers)
P Brian Leach - Bradenton Marauders (Pirates)

A
P J.R. Ballinger - Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox)
OF Bo Davis - Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres)
SS Brian Dozier - Beloit Snappers (Twins)
OF Toddrick Johnson - Stockton Ports (A's)

Short Season A
Not yet assigned

Unassigned
P Josh Billeaud - (White Sox)
2B James Ewing - (Mets)

Japan
P John Bale - Hiroshima Toyo Karp

Free Agents
P Chad Bradford - Considering retirement after an injury-plagued career.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Small Ball, Long Ball, Pitching (lack there of) Dooms Eagles

St. Mary's College did it all on the offensive side of the ball tonight. Whether is was bunts, extra base hits or home runs the Gaels looked like they could do no wrong.

Lead off batters in first two innings reached on bunts. Moved the runners successfully with steals and sacrifice bunts. And the Gaels hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning off of freshman pitcher Geoffrey Thomas to jump out to an early 3-0 lead.

The walk bug got to Thomas in the third inning when he walked three in a row to load the bases with one out before being pulled for Seth Hester. Hester gave up a grand slam increasing the Gaels lead to eight runs.

Southern Miss staged a small rally in the bottom of the third. After a lead of homer by Marc Bourgeois, USM had the bases loaded with no outs, but only managed to get two more runs. After three innings, the Golden Eagles were down 10-3. USM scored three more runs with a home run by B.A. Vollmuth in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 10-6.

SMC scored nine more runs, including seven in the 7th inning to increase the lead to 19-6. USM scored four more in the bottom of the 8th and another in the 9th, but it wasn't enough to get the win. St. Mary's wins 19-11.

Bottom line - tonight was an ugly night for Southern Miss. Everything went SMC's way. Something this team is missing right now is leadership. Last year, seniors like Bo Davis and Brian Dozier were instrumental in leading the team to the College World Series. This year, no one has stepped up and taken this role. If the Golden Eagles keep playing like this, they can kiss the regional appearance streak goodbye. Heck, they might not even make it to the Conference USA tournament. Who will step up and rally the troops?

Softball Snaps Losing Streak, Baseball Tonight

Coach Howard Dobson's softball club ending a 10 game losing streak with a mid-week sweep of Jackson State. It was the Golden Eagles first win since a 6-2 victory over Eastern Illinois at the Razborback Invitational on March 6. With the win, USM is now 14-14 (0-6 in Conference USA). Next up will be a three game set on the road against UTEP starting tomorrow.

Scott Berry's club is looking to rebound from a tough loss at South Alabama on Tuesday. The Golden Eagles could not hold a nine run lead and fell to the Jaguars 14-13. USM starts a three game home series with St. Mary's tonight.