University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
McNeese State Spoils Golden Eagle Opener, 4-2
2/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
McNeese State Spoils Golden Eagle Opener, 4-2
Hattiesburg, Miss. - McNeese State belted three home runs and tacked on another run to defeat Southern Miss in its season opener, 4-2, today, at Pete Taylor Park. The Cowboys? Ran Prince hit two consecutive homers, and Tim Lemke added another for McNeese State (5-1).
Southern Miss had the advantage in hits 9-8, as Brad Willcutt went 3-for-4 with two singles and a double. Carlos Velasquez also added two hits.
Rusty Begnaud (2-0) threw seven innings and allowed just one run to pick up the win, while Southern Miss starter Cliff Russum (0-1) took the loss.
?We outhit them, but they hit the long ball,? Southern Miss Head Coach Corky Palmer said. ?We had no errors, but the only thing that upset me in the game was that we got picked off twice. That hurt us.?
Neither team could advance a runner past second until the bottom of the third frame. Matt Shepherd drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Beau Griffin?s sacrifice bunt. Shepherd then moved to third on Carlos Velasquez?s ground out, but Begnaud then fanned Clint King to end the threat.
The Cowboys got on the board quickly in the fourth as Ran Prince led off with a homer to left center. McNeese State then put two more runners on via a base on balls and a single by Tim Lemke. Russum retired the next two batters, but loaded the bases after nipping Chris Fontenot with a pitch. The Eagles escaped though, as Russum caught Josh Fontenot looking to limit the damage to one run.
McNeese added another run in the fifth on Prince?s second dinger in a row and took a 2-0 lead after five and a half.
The Cowboys increased the lead in the sixth inning as Lemke led off with a solo shot to left field. Lance Dawkins then reached on a double and scored after two straight fly outs ? the last a sacrifice by pinch hitter Tyler Dugas ? making the score 4-0.
The Golden Eagles finally broke through with a run in the bottom of the sixth. Beau Griffin led off with a double, and Velasquez knocked him home with an RBI-single up the middle.
After another scoreless inning, Southern Miss inched closer in the bottom of the eighth. Matt Shepherd?s lead-off double resulted in a score two batters later as King?s singled the shortstop home for the final 4-2 score.
Ray Antonelli threw the final four innings of relief for the Golden Eagles, allowing no runs on three hits. Russum finished the day with four earned runs on five hits in five innings of work. The pair combined for nine strikeouts in the game.
Begnaud finished with four strikeouts of his own as he gave up six hits. Walt Nolen picked up the save with two innings of work.
Lemke led the Cowboys with three hits, while Prince and Brian Bernhardt had two hits each.
The two teams return to action on Saturday with a noon first pitch. Stephen Castleman is scheduled to pitch for the Golden Eagles, while McNeese?s John Doertler takes the mound.
