University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Northwestern Downs Southern Miss, 5-1
2/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Northwestern Downs Southern Miss, 5-1
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Northwestern's Dan Konecny pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on six hits, walking one and striking out four to lead Northwestern to a 5-1 victory, today, at Stan Dale Field, in Mobile, Ala., in game one of the Coca-Cola Classic, hosted by South Alabama.
"You have to give Northwestern's pitcher a lot of credit," Southern Miss Head Coach Corky Palmer said. "He threw a sinking fastball that kept our hitters off balance today. They also got timely hits. I thought Ray Antonelli did a good job coming in and holding them. We need to do a better job of driving in runners."
The Wildcats (3-0) scored five runs on seven hits and didn't have any errors, while the Golden Eagles (3-2) finished with one run on six hits and committed two errors. Cliff Russum (0-2) took the loss for Southern Miss, pitching the first four innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on three hits, walking four and striking out three. Antonelli pitched four innings in relief, giving up one hits, walking one and striking out four. John Nicholas pitched one-third of an inning, giving up one unearned run and Austin Tubb pitched the final two-thirds of the ninth, giving up two runs on three hits and striking out one.
Konecny (2-0) earned his second win, and Brad Brauer picked up his second save of the season, pitching the final 1.2 innings, giving up two walks and striking out three.
Jason Lowery led the Golden Eagles at the plate with two hits and Carlos Velasquez, Brad Willcutt, Griff Israel and Ryan Frith each had one as well. Padgett led the Wilcats with two hits and five others had one hit each.
The Widcats scored once in each of the second and third innings and then added three runs in the ninth to extend their lead. Dan Pohlman hit a solo homer to account for the single run in the second inning. David Gretsky reached on a three-base error by Clint King and then scored when Brandon Ackley doubled down the right field line to score Gretsky.
Ken Padgett reached in the ninth inning on a throwing error by shortstop Matt Benson. He moved to second on Jon Mikrut's sacrifice bunt to Golden Eagle pitcher John Nicholas. After Josh Lieberman was hit by a pitch, Eric Roeder doubled down the left field line, scoring Padgett, pushing the lead to 3-0 and pushing Lieberman to third. Mark Ori singled to left field, driving in Lieberman from third and Roeder from second.
The Golden Eagles scored their run in the eighth inning. Lowery hit a double to left center with one out before Frith's pinch-hit single up the middle moved Lowery to third. Marc Maddox walked to load the bases, before Clint King's sacrifice fly to center, scored Lowery.
Southern Miss plays St. John's at 7 p.m.,tonight , at Stanky Field on the campus of South Alabama. The Golden Eagles will conclude the tournament with a 2:30 p.m., contest with South Alabama at Stanky Field.
