University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Beat Cincinnati, 3-2; Improve to 23-9
4/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Eagles Beat Cincinnati, 3-2; Improve to 23-9
AMELIA, Ohio ? Southern Miss put a single run on the board in the top of the ninth inning here Sunday afternoon, retired the home-standing Bearcats in the bottom of the inning and left town with a 2-1 edge in the weekend Conference USA series, along with at least a share of the league lead.
With the victory, Head Coach Corky Palmer's team improves to 23-9 (9-3, C-USA), while Cincinnati drops to 9-21 (3-9, C-USA). The Golden Eagles continue league play this weekend when Charlotte comes to Hattiesburg for a three-game weekend series that will be a part of EagleFest Weekend that also will feature softball against Charlotte, and the annual Black & Gold spring football game.
Friday's series-opening game starts at 6:30 p.m., the Saturday game at 4 p.m., and the Sunday finale at 1 p.m.
"A sweep would have been even better, but it was a good weekend for us," Palmer said. "We fought back from a disappointing Saturday loss, played well enough today to win, and taking 2-of-3 in a conference road series is good. We got some timely hitting today, and I thought (Stephen) Castleman pitched better than he has in a couple of weeks. (Ray) Antonelli also had another strong game for us. The weather was colder than probably what we like to play in, but it was another important step for us in that we played well, and won, under less than ideal conditions."
Runs came hard in Sunday's game. Cincinnati put one on the board in the third inning when Aaron Moll doubled to open the inning and scored on one of Jake Smith's three singles.
Southern Miss took the lead in the fifth. Beau Griffin opened the frame with a single and was bunted to second by Matt Shepherd. After a fly out for the second out, Bouldin intentionally walked the Golden Eagles' leading hitter, Jeff Cook. Brad Willcutt then lifted a towering pop-up that no one could corral and Griffin scored as it dropped in the infield. Clint King then bounced one back to Bouldin, but his throw to first was errant, allowing Cook to score.
Cincinnati tied the score in the sixth Brad Dorrmann and Steve Pickerell singled to start the sixth for the Bearcats and Brad Schutz bunted them over. Jon DeLuca then singled to tie the game at 2-2.
UC threatened to break the tie in the seventh, as it loaded the bases with one out on singles by Smith and Mark Muscenti and a walk to Justin Niefer. Antonelli came in to relieve USM starter Castleman, and promptly got the Bearcats to fly out and strike out end the inning.
Then, in the top of the final inning, Jason Lowery opened with a single to right field. After Beau Griffin sacrificed him to second, Lowery advanced to third on a fly-out. Pinchhitter Marc Maddox, a freshman who played at Oak Grove High School, then came up and drilled a 2-0 offering from Nate Bouldin into the right-centerfield gap to plate the winning run.
Antonelli (2-0) pitched 2.2 perfect innings to earn the win. Castleman gave up two runs on 10 hits in 6.1 innings, walking two and striking out five.
DeLuca and Dorrmann each had two hits for UC in addition to Smith?s three. Griffin was the only Golden Eagle with more than one hit.
