(25) SOUTHERN MISS
The Golden Eagles have broken into the national rankings after increasing their winning streak to eight games after taking three games at the Cougar Invitational in Charleston, S.C. over the weekend. Included were victories over No. 19 Connecticut and No. 20 College of Charleston. Southern Miss has posted a 15-3 record and is enjoying its best 18-game start since the 2004 campaign when that squad went 16-2. The Golden Eagle pitching staff continues to throw well in 2011 as the staff combined for a 1.36 earned run average in the three-game tournament over the weekend. With a complete-game victory for sophomore RHP Geoffrey Thomas in the finale against UConn, the Golden Eagles had a pitcher go the distance in a start for the first time since Scott Copeland did it on May 20, 2010, against Memphis. Senior RHP Collin Cargill, the team's closer, keeps performing at a high level, including earning the win with a career-long 7.2 inning relief performance last Saturday in a 15-inning game against Rhode Island. Cargill has not allowed a run over 16.1 innings this season and has saved four games for the squad this year. Offensively, the team currently hits .299 collectively with seven players over the .300 batting mark.
(20) TULANE
The Green Wave is nationally-ranked and has won six straight games to improve to 16-4 on the season. Junior DH Jeremy Schaffer has hit in six straight games - with an extra base hit in each of his last four contests - and ranks second in C-USA in batting average, while leading the nation with 15 doubles. Sophomore SS Garrett Cannizaro continues to swing a hot bat, hitting .333 in his last 10 games to raise his season average to .280 and sits second on the team in RBI with 13. Sophomore OF Blake Crohan sits behind Schaffer with a .402 on-base percentage and 16 runs scored this year, while leading the team with 14 walks and five hit-by-pitches. Senior RHP Nick Pepitone has saved a nation-leading nine games and posted a perfect 3-0 record thus far in 2011. The right-hander has a 2.41 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 18.2 innings of work on the mound. Head coach Rick Jones enters the weekend with a 997-452-3 and is closing in on his 1,000th career head coaching victory. Jones is the winningest head coach in program history (723), while making head coaching stops at Elon College and Ferrum College to start his career. Jones won 174 games while at Elon and skippered Ferrum to 102 victories in three seasons.
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- Fear the Wave NIL Collective
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- American Athletic Conference
