University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Captures First C-USA Regular Season Baseball Title
5/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Southern Miss Captures First C-USA Regular Season Baseball Title
HOUSTON, Texas ? The Conference USA regular season baseball title belongs to Southern Miss after the Golden Eagles grabbed an early 2-0 lead and never trailed en route to a 15-3 victory over Houston (31-25, 18-12) here today, in the final regular season game for both teams.
The title is the first C-USA regular season baseball title for the Golden Eagles, and Southern Miss becomes the first C-USA team to win regular season championships in the big three sports, football, men's basketball and baseball. But it didn't happen easily. After playing 54 games, including 29 in the league, the regular season championship came down to today's final game; and, while TCU did its part by beating Louisville, Southern Miss took care of business by taking 2-of-3 from the Cougars to finish at 41-14 overall and 23-7 in league play. The series win over the Cougars also was the first-ever for the Eagles.
This year's 41 victories places the '03 season in third place on the all-time single season victory list, behind only the 42 wins in the 1990 and 1991 seasons. The 23 C-USA victories this season also sets a new league mark.
Head Coach Corky Palmer says he couldn't be prouder of his team. "Our guys worked hard all season," he said. "I told the players a few weeks back that we would have to win the title, that no one was going to give it to us. We've been a good hitting team all season; but, in the last month, our defense and pitching have improved tremendously, and we've become a complete team.
"To take care of business, and win two against a Houston team that ranks among the best in the country, makes this all the more special. When we had nine games left and six of them were on the road, that made it tough; but, our players responded, and this is the result. We may have had teams with more talent in the past, but none that worked harder. We've probably got more players who can do more things than with any team I've had here, and that sets this team apart."
With the regular season title, Southern Miss claims the No. 1 seed in the C-USA tournament that starts Wednesday, May 21, at Turchin Stadium on the Tulane campus in New Orleans, La. The Golden Eagles will open the tournament against No. 8 seed Charlotte in the 12:30 p.m., Wednesday game.
After dropping a 6-5 decision to the Cougars Friday night, Southern Miss left little to chance in today's crucial game. The Golden Eagles jumped ahead in the top of the first when Matt Shepherd singled, Jeff Cook doubled to right the Brad Willcutt's double sent both Shepherd and Cook home for a 2-0 lead.
Houston cut the margin to a single run in the bottom of the second, but Palmer's squad then removed all doubt with three runs in the third, four more in the fourth and another three-spot in the fifth, for a 12-2 lead.
Southern Miss pounded out 16 hits in the game, including two home runs by Marc Maddox, and one each by Cook and Clint King. Both Cook and King finished the regular season with 20 home runs, a first for the Golden Eagle program. Maddox and Cook had four hits each, Willcutt added three and Shepherd and King had two each. In addition to a bevy of other hitting records, Cook added the total bases record to his collection during today's game.
Golden Eagle pitching limited Houston to only seven hits, and Stephen Castleman improved his record to 7-2 with six innings of six-hit, three-run pitching, and Cliff Russum (2.0) and Austin Tubb (1.0) finished up, allowing the Cougars just one hit over the final three innings.
Gabe Lucas had almost half Houston's hits, with three, and Brian Henderson, the first of five Cougar pitchers, lasted just 2.1 innings and took the loss, to drop to 4-4.
