Eagles land in school's second regional tourney
By By Robby Atkinson / staff writer
June 4, 2004
The University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles will be making their second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament when they travel to Baton Rogue, La. today to take on the College of Charleston at 6:30 p.m.
USM (44-17) hosted its first regional in school history last season and failed to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but hope to take that next step during the LSU regional this weekend.
Today's first game features LSU taking on Army at 2 p.m.
College of Charleston (45-14) is making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in school history and has had an historic season this year in South Carolina. The Cougars shattered the school record of 31 wins in a season, taking the Southern Conference regular season championship for the first time in school history.
College of Charleston brings in the best offense of the four teams in the LSU regional with a team batting average of .342 and has scored 518 runs this season. Byron Barber leads the Cougars in batting average with a .411 mark and leads the squad in hits with 101. Barber has driven in 54 runs this season and collected 11 doubles.
Brett Anderson leads the Cougars in the home run department with 16 and leads the team in RBIs with 61. Anderson enters the regional with a .340 average and is tops on the team in on base percentage at .480. Ryan Johnson has had a successful season for the Cougars on the mound as the ace pitcher on the staff. Johnson leads the team with a 13-0 record and has complied a 3.11 ERA. Anderson is expected to draw the start in game one against the Golden Eagles.
The pitching staff for the Cougars has complied a team ERA of 4.30 and Brett Harker also leads College of Charleston with 13 saves and has appeared in 30 games out of the bullpen this season.
College of Charleston won the regular season Southern Conference with a 25-5 league record and advanced to the semifinals of the league tournament, losing to eventual tournament champion The Citadel.
Southern Mississippi enters the tournament after advancing to the championship game of the Conference USA before dropping a 3-1 decision to TCU in Houston last weekend.
The Golden Eagles hit 318 as a team. Senior Ryan Frith leads the Golden Eagles with 22 home runs and has collected 53 RBIs, while Marc Maddox has tallied 14 home runs to go along with 58 RBIs.
Jarred Hoffpauir has had a solid season for USM with a .402 batting average and leads the team with 86 RBIs. The one weakness for the Golden Eagles has been pitching and the staff comes into the regional with a team ERA of 4.69. The one bright spot has been Anthony DeWitt with a 10-2 record and a 4.64 ERA in 87.1 innings pitched.
The Golden Eagles are making their fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and enter the tournament with an all-time record of 5-8 in regional action.
The winner of the opener between the Tigers and Black Knights will battle the USM/Charleston winner Saturday at 3 p.m.
LSU (41-17) will be hosting an NCAA regional for the 15th straight season and for the 16th time overall in school history. It is no mystery that the Bayou Bengals have one of the most powerful offenses in college baseball. J.C. Holt leads LSU with a .397 batting average and has 96 hits this season. Ryan Patterson leads LSU in home runs with 13 and has collected a team-high 60 RBIs.
LSU enters the tournament with a 4.75 ERA as a team and are lead by Nate Bumstead with a 7-3 record and a 3.82 ERA, while tossing 63.2 innings.
Army (37-18) comes into the regional after breaking 81 team and individual records this season. The Black Knights have met the Tigers once in school history and dropped an 11-8 decision to LSU in 1980. Army is led at the plate by Schulver Williamson with 12 home runs and 48 RBIs. Nate Stone leads the team in batting average at .422 average and 53 RBIs.
Nick Hill has led Army on the mound this season with a 3.20 ERA and a 10-2 record.
