University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Eagles Drop 7-2 Decision To South Alabama
3/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Eagles Drop 7-2 Decision To South Alabama
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southern Miss failed to take advantage of some early-inning scoring opportunities, and that lack of production proved to be a turning point in the game in a 7-2 Golden Eagle loss to South Alabama here Tuesday night.
With the loss, head Coach Corky Palmer's team drops to 15-5 overall, 3-0 in C-USA play, while South Alabama improves to 14-7. Southern Miss beat the Jaguars 8-0 in a Feb. 23, game in Mobile, Ala., in the finals of the Coca-Cola Classic tournament.
After South Alabama scored a first inning run, starting Jaguar pitcher Tommy Major proceeded to walk three Golden Eagle batters, and a Josh Hoffpauir single and a double play infield grounder by Jeff Cook chased home Carlos Velasquez, who drew the first of those three walks, to tie the score at one
The Jaguars added another run in the top of the second, and though Major walked three more batters in the bottom of that inning, Southern Miss could not take advantage. While Major continued to have trouble finding the plate, the Eagles had just as much trouble coming up with hits. Major lasted five innings and walked eight, but he also struck out five and gave up just one hit.
And the visitors continued to score, going ahead 3-1 with a single run in the third and then added two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, for a 7-1 lead.
Tony Neal finished the final four innings for the winners, and Palmer's Eagles had no better luck with him, getting just one hit and striking out five times. The two hits, one each by Hoffpauir and King, marked a season-low for Southern Miss, while South Alabama banged out seven hits against four Golden Eagle hurlers. Craig Mulhern had two of those hits, one a home run, and Cole Craig matched that feat, with two hits and a home run. T.J. Touchstone added a pair of singles for the winners.
King's hit, a solo home run in the ninth, proved to be too little, too late as the Eagles lost for the first time in seven games, and for only the third time in the last 15 games.
Southern Miss gets quickly back into league play with a three-game weekend series at Louisville. The Friday game starts at 2 p.m., and both Saturday's and Sunday's games start at noon, central time. Those games will be played in Cardinal Stadium, and can be heard on the ISP Golden Eagle Sports Network, including 107.1 FM, in Hattiesburg, or by logging on to SouthernMiss.com.
