University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Louisiana-Monroe Downs Southern Miss, 8-1
3/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Louisiana-Monroe Downs Southern Miss, 8-1
MONROE, La. - Louisiana-Monroe scored eight runs on six hits and used strong pitching to hold Southern Miss to one run, winning game one in the two-game mid-week series. Indian pitching finished with 11 strikeouts and didn't walk any. The loss snapped the Golden Eagles' five-game winning streak.
"You have to give Louisiana-Monroe pitchers a lot of credit," Southern Miss Head Coach Corky Palmer said. "All three pitchers did a good job and kept our hitters off balance. We struck out too much and our pitching had a couple of rough innings where we gave up too many walks and home runs. We just have to come back and win tomorrow."
Louisiana-Monroe (7-4) scored eight runs on six hits and committed one error, while Southern Miss scored one run on five hits. Bradley Hoffpauir led the Indians with two hits in three at bats. Ben Jones finished with one hit, a two-run homer in the fifth inning and had another RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the third inning. Jerad Doty had a two-run single in the third inning, and Andy Chance hit a solo homer in the sixth inning.
The Golden Eagles (8-3) had five players with one hit each. Jarrett Hoffpauir and Jeff Cook each had a double for USM, and Cook had the only RBI.
Indians' starting pitcher Caleb McConnell picked up his first win of the season, pitching five innings, giving up one run on five hits and struck out six. Justin Lensch came on in relief in the sixth inning, pitching two innings, giving up one hit and striking out three. Ryan Schwabe finished the final two innings, giving up only one hit and striking out two.
Southern Miss starter Cliff Russum (0-3) pitched five innings, giving up six runs on three hits, walking four and striking out a season-high eight batters. Brian Hurley pitched the final three innings, giving up two runs on three hits and walking three.
Both pitchers were moving along through the first two and a half innings, until Russum ran into some problems in the third, giving up four runs on two hits. After retiring Kade Eaddy, he gave up his first hit of the game to Mario Filippi, before striking out Willie Rickard for the second out. Russum walked Jack Scaggs to load the bases, then walked Joey Wolfe to bring in the first run and then hit Jones to bring in the second run. Doty hit a single through the left side driving in two more runs before Chance flew out to end the inning.
The Golden Eagles scored one in the fourth with Carlos Velasquez leading off the inning with a single through the right side, moved to second on Hoffpauir's ground out to second and scored on Cook's double to center. Brad Willcutt reached on an infield single, putting runners on the corners before Clint King hit into a double play.
The Indians pushed their lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning. With two outs in the inning, Wolfe walked before Jones hit a two-run homer to left center. Louisiana-Monroe extended its lead to 7-1, as Chance blasted one over the left field wall in the sixth inning. The Indians added a second run to their lead after Filippi walked, stole second, moved to third on Jay Aulds ground out and then scored on Skaggs single to right field.
The two teams complete the two-game series at Indian Field in Monroe, La., on Wednesday, at 3 p.m.
