University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Alvarez Pitches SE Missouri State Past Southern Miss, 9-2
3/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Alvarez Pitches SE Missouri State Past Southern Miss, 9-2
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southeast Missouri State starter Tim Alvarez scattered nine hits and struck out nine batters in a complete game 9-2 win over Southern Miss Friday at Pete Taylor Park. The loss snapped a five-game home win streak for the Golden Eagles, who dropped to 9-4 on the season. The Indians improved to 3-5 overall on the season.
?We didn?t do a whole lot well tonight,? Southern Miss head coach Corky Palmer said. ?We got behind early in the game, and (Alvarez) threw a good game. We never got the big hit that we needed, and I was very disappointed with our hitting.?
The Golden Eagles finished with two runs on nine hits and committed four errors. Southeast scored nine runs on 10 hits and made no errors.
The Indians attacked first as they mounted a three-hit second inning. Tristen McDonald led off with a single, and Zach Borowiak followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Brian Hopkins then knocked a single to center field to plate McDonald and move the runners to the corners. Two batters later, Eric Hoffman sacrificed to left field and scored Borowiak for the 2-0 lead.
Southeast added another run in the third as Justin Christian blasted a two-out solo home run to right center field for the 3-0 score.
The Southern Miss bats were silent through the first three innings as Alvarez had his way on the mound. The sidewinder allowed just two hits ? both to Jarrett Hoffpauir ? through the first three innings and had five strikeouts.
A number of Golden Eagle miscues led to three more runs for the Indians, as they doubled their score in the fourth inning. Gary Gilbert and Hoffman led off with back-to-back singles and Aaron Fangman drew a walk to load the bases. The runners advanced and Gilbert scored on a passed ball. Seth Mouton then hit into what looked to be an inning-ending grounder to second, but Hoffpauir fired an errant throw to first base, allowing two runs to score on the error and making it 6-0.
Southern Miss temporarily stopped the bleeding in the fifth as Golden Eagle starter Anthony Dewitt retired the side in order, striking out the last two batters of the inning.
The hosts then got on the board with their first two runs in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded, Adam Smith singled Marc Maddox home with a hit through the left side. Beau Griffin next scored as Jeff Cook hit into a fielder?s choice ? cutting the lead by four runs at 6-2.
Southeast tacked on a run in the sixth, as Gilbert reached on a double only to later score as Fangman hit into a double play. The visitors added another run two innings later, benefiting on two errors and a sacrifice for the 8-2 score.
While Southeast was putting runs on the board, the Golden Eagles were having a tough time at the plate. After scoring the two runs in the fifth, Southern Miss placed four runners on base and stranded all of them.
The ninth produced more of the same for the Indians as they scored their final run of the game on an error by reliever Austin Tubb ? putting the game all but out of reach with a 9-2 advantage.
Hoffpauir and Smith both had two hits to lead Southern Miss, while Smith and Cook had the lone RBIs. On the mound, Dewitt gave up seven runs on eight hits in six innings of work. Noah Tritz threw 1.2 innings and allowed one run on one hit. Tubb threw the final 1.1 innings, giving up one run on one hit.
McDonald, Hoffman, Gilbert and Brian Hopkins all had two hits for the Indians.
