University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Downs UAB In Series Opener, 5-4
4/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Southern Miss Downs UAB In Series Opener, 5-4
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Southern Miss? Clint Stoy hit a one-out double to right center, scoring Brad Willcutt from third, breaking a 4-4 tie, giving the Golden Eagles a 5-4 Conference USA series opening victory, Friday, over UAB at Young Memorial Field.
Cliff Russum (1-2) picked up his first career win as he came on in the eighth inning, pitching the final 1.1 innings of the game. He struck out the final two batters to secure the victory. Shea Douglas started the game, pitching 7.2 innings, giving up four runs, three earned, on six hits, walking four and striking out six.
"Cliff Russum came in and really pitched well for us tonight," Southern Miss Head Coach Corky Palmer said. "I have to give the men a lot of credit for coming back twice during the game after losing the lead and respond by scoring runs the next inning. Shea didn?t have a good outing but continued to battle throughout the game. I have to also give credit to Clint Stoy. He had a good night at the plate and drove in the winning run. Brad Willcutt and Allen Winningham both hit the ball well for us as well. We didn?t have a good game in the field tonight with three errors; we have to do better than that. We have to get ready for tomorrow and take this series one game at a time and continue to improve on the things we didn?t do well."
Southern Miss (28-15, 12-6 in C-USA) scored five runs on 11 hits and committed three errors, while UAB (13-28, 5-14) scored four runs on six hits and didn?t have any errors. The Golden Eagles stranded 12 runners, while the Blazers left eight on base.
The Golden Eagles scored first with a run in the top of third, taking the 1-0 lead. Allen Winningham singled up the middle, stole second and then scored when Willcutt hit a two-out double to the wall in right center. UAB scored twice in the bottom of the inning, taking the 2-1 lead.
Douglas walked Justin Miller and Chad House with one out in the inning, before Matt Womble?s single to right field scored Miller and sent House to third. Eric Lyon flew out to right field, plating House, while Kyle Leon struck out to end the inning.
Southern Miss added two runs in the fourth, taking the 3-2 lead. Clint Stoy and Clint King singled and Jarrett Hoffpauir walked to load the bases. Matt Shepherd singled through the right side, scoring Stoy, and Carlos Velasquez flew out to left, scoring King. Jeff Cook struck out, and Willcutt flew out to right to end the inning.
The Golden Eagles tacked on another run in the fifth, extending their lead to 4-2. Stoy hit a one-out double to left center, moved to third on King?s ground out to first and then scored on Hoffpauir?s double to left center.
UAB cut Southern Miss? lead by one run in the seventh. Mitch Jones led off with a single up the middle, advanced to second on Mark Garner?s ground out sacrifice and scored on Womble?s single to right field.
The Blazers scored a run in the eighth to tie the game at 4-4. Leon led off with a single to left, moved to second on Goulden?s ground out sacrifice and then scored when Mitch Jones reached on an error by Hoffpauir.
Cody Cillo (1-1) took the loss for the Blazers, pitching the final inning, giving up one run on two hits. Rusty McIntyre started the game, pitching 3.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits, walking four and striking out four. Joe Yarbrough came on in relief in the fourth inning, pitching 4.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits, walking one and striking out four.
The two teams play the second game in the three-game weekend series at 2 p.m., at Young Memorial Field on Saturday.
