University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Defeats St. John's, 13-12
2/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Southern Miss Defeats St. John's, 13-12
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southern Miss' Ryan Frith, Clint King, Jarrett Hoffpauir and Kevin Coker finished with three hits each to lead the Golden Eagles to a 13-12 come-from-behind victory over St. John's in the Coca-Cola Classic hosted by South Alabama at Stanky Field tonight. Jason Lowery finished with two hits and two RBIs for the Golden Eagles as well.
"I've got to give the players a lot of credit,"Southern Miss Head Coach Corky Palmer said. "We were down by three runs twice during the game and battled back to take leads both times. It was good to see Bob back on the mound, and it was also good to see Austin Tubb close the game with a solid performance. Noah Tritz pitched well in the middle innings as well. It was also good to see us break out the bats and get some hits. That is something we needed to do after not hitting the ball as well in the earlier game."
The Golden Eagles (4-2) were down 12-9 in the eighth inning, when they scored four runs to take the one-run advantage. A sacrifice fly by Griff Israel, a Brad Willcutt double and a two-run double by Hoffpauir keyed the Southern Miss rally.
Bob McCrory made his first appearance of the season, pitching two-third of an inning, giving up two runs on three hits and striking out one to earn his first win of the season. Austin Tubb completed the final two innings,giving up one hits, walking two and striking out two, earning his first save of the season.
St. John's (1-1) was led by Greg Thomson and Anthony DeRosa, who finished with three hits each. Billy Grainger, Jim Martin, Eddie Schultz, Blake Hershelman and John-Paul Cirigliano each finished with two hits for the Red Storm as well. Mike Tamulionis (0-1) dropped the decision, pitching the final 1.2 innings, giving up one run on one hit, walking one and striking out one. Greg Holmes started for the Red Storm, pitching 5.0 innings, giving up eight runs, five earned, on 11 hits, walking three and striking out three. Craig Hansen pitched 2.1 innings in middle relief, giving up four hits on six runs, walking one and striking out two.
St. John's scored three runs in the first inning on three hits. Doubles by Anthony DeRosa and Eddie Schultz keyed the inning, along with a Southern Miss error. Southern MIss took a two-run lead in their half of the second, scoring five runs on six hits and was aided by Red Storm error. Back-to-back-to-back singles by King, Hoffpauir and Adam Smith, along with a single by Matt Shepherd and a three-run homer over the right field wall by Carlos Velasquez accounted for the runs.
The Red Storm scored two in the third and one in the fourth, taking an 8-5 lead. Schultz reached in the third when he was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on Mike Rozema's single to right and scored on an errant throw by Hoffpauir. Rozema stole second, advanced to second on the error and then scored on Blake Hershelman's single through the left side. A single by DeRosa in the fourth and then a double down the left field line by Schultz accounted for the one run in the fourth.
Southern Miss scored three runs in the sixth inning, tying the game at 8-8. Hoffpauir singled to left, moved to second when Smith reached on a fielding error by second baseman John-Paul Cirigliano and advanced to third on Coker's single through the left side. Hoffpauir scored when Shepherd hit a grounder forcing Coker at second and moving Smith to third. Lowery pinch hit for Jeff Cook and ripped a single up the middle, scoring both Smith and Shepherd.
The Golden Eagles tacked on a single run in the seventh, taking the 9-8 lead. King singled to left to lead off the inning, moved to second on a balk, stole third and scored on Coker's second double of the game.
The Red Storm scored four runs in the seventh inning on five hits, once again taking a three-run lead, 12-9. A single by Hershelman and a double by Cirigliano put runners on second and third, before singles by Billy Graiser and Greg Thomson drove in both runs. Derosa doubled to left center, driving in Graiser and Thomson and adding two more runs.
Brent Leach started the game for the Golden Eagles, pitching an inning, before being relieved by Dainel Best. Tritz came on in relief in the third inning, pitching four innings before McCrory and Tubb finished the game.
The Golden Eagles face tournament host South Alabama in the second game on Sunday at 2:30 pm, at Stanky Field. The game will be broadcast on 98.1 WXMI, due to the women's basketball game being aired on 107.1 FM. The game will not be broadcast on SouthernMiss.com because of the women's basketball game.
