By Staff
from school reports
April 27, 2004
The No. 20 Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels will meet at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson today at 6:30 p.m. The game can be heard locally on WFFX 1450 AM and WHOC 1490 AM.
The game, a part of the Magnolia Cup Classic, will be the third time the two teams have met this year. Southern Miss has won both meetings this season, 8-7, on March 23 in Hattiesburg and April 20, in Oxford, 8-4. However, Ole Miss still leads the all-time series, 66-38.
The Golden Eagles (30-11, 12-6) are coming off being swept in a Conference USA series at Tulane (17-1, 17-5 and 9-7), and the Rebels (31-11, 11-7) have lost five consecutive games, including a SEC weekend series sweep at Georgia (7-3, 9-4 and 7-3).
Ole Miss opened its season with 11 straight wins, including series sweeps over Birmingham Southern, at South Alabama, Southeast Missouri State and Eastern Illinois.
Southern Miss is scheduled to pitch senior right-hander Anthony DeWitt. DeWitt is 6-2 with an ERA of 4.89. In 49.2 innings pitched, he has given up 27 earned runs on 64 hits, struck out 38 and walked 18. Opponents are hitting .311 against him.
Ole Miss will send sophomore right-hander Anthony Cupps to the mound. Cupps is 2-0 with a 3.63 ERA.
He has pitched 34.2 innings this season, given up 14 earned runs on 34 hits, struck out 27 and walked 15. Opponents are hitting .248 against him.
The Golden Eagles are led offensively by junior shortstop Matt Shepherd. He is hitting .411 with 18 doubles, six triples, two home runs and 31 RBIs. Junior second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir is hitting .408 with 18 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 61 RBIs. Senior left fielder Carlos Velasquez is hitting .344 with seven doubles, one triple, six home runs and 27 RBIs. Senior right fielder Ryan Frith is hitting .335 with 10 doubles, a team-high 15 home runs and 40 RBIs. Southern Miss, as a team, is hitting .323 with 90 doubles, 14 triples, 60 home runs and 316 RBIs.
Ole Miss is led offensively by sophomore first baseman Stephen Head. He is hitting .391 with 12 doubles, one triple, 10 home runs and 46 RBIs. Catcher junior Barry Gunther is hitting .373 with nine doubles, one triple, one home run and 24 RBIs. Junior right fielder Seth Smith is hitting .316 with six doubles, one triple, five home runs and 34 RBIs. The Rebels, as a team, are hitting .311 with 89 doubles, 11 triples, 38 home runs and 277 RBIs.