University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Wins Season Opener, 12-3
2/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Wins Season Opener, 12-3
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Southern Miss scored three runs in the first, fourth and fifth innings and added single runs in the sixth, seventh and eight innings to lead the Golden Eagles to a 12-3 opening-season win over Northwestern (La.) State, here today, at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
The game broke open when senior Ryan Frith blasted a two-run homer over center field in the fourth inning, giving the Golden Eagles (1-0) a 5-2 lead. Two batters later, sophomore Marc Maddox hit a solo homer over left center to push the lead to four after the fourth. Freshman Jody Blount hit a three-run home run over right center in the fifth inning in his first collegiate at bat, giving the Golden Eagles a 9-2 lead.
Senior Anthony DeWitt (1-0) picked up the victory, pitching seven solid innings, giving up three runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out two. Freshman Mike Cashion pitched the final two innings, finishing with three strikeouts in his first collegiate appearance.
"It was a good day for us," Head Coach Corky Palmer said. "I was worried since they already had played four games, but we exceeded our expectations. Our offense started slow, but came back and was strong in the middle and late innings. We played pretty good defense and made our own breaks today.
"Anthony pitched well for us today. He got behind one inning, giving up several hits but got his composure back and pitched well for the rest of the game. I was happy to get Mike (Cashion) in the game for a couple innings of work. He has an outstanding breaking ball, maybe the best on the team and kept batters off balance."
Southern Miss took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning on only one hit. The inning was keyed by Matt Shepherd's leadoff triple to left center. The bases were loaded when Brad Willcutt was hit by a pitch, bringing in Shepherd for the first run. Carlos Velasquez flew out to center, driving in Maddox, who reached on a walk, for the second run and Jarrett Hoffpauir scored the third run on a wild pitch.
Northwestern State (3-2) answered with two runs in the top of the second. Brandon Morgan hit a one-out single up the middle and scored on Jeff Martin's triple to left center. Martin scored their second run on Hunter Thoms' single to right.
Southern Miss pushed its lead to 6-2 on Frith and Maddox's home runs in the fourth inning and then extended its lead to 9-2 with Blount's three-run blast in the fifth. Willcutt added the Golden Eagles 10th run when Demon pitcher Caleb Irwin balked with the bases loaded. Hoffpauir drove in Southern Miss' 11th run when he flew out to center, driving in Shepherd who reached on a single, moved to second on Maddox's walk and then to third on a wild pitch by Irwin. Jason Lowery added the final run for the Golden Eagles when an errant throw by Morgan on a double play attempt allowed him to score from third.
Northwestern State starting pitcher Daniel Lonsberry (1-1) dropped his first decision of the season, pitching the first 3.1 innings, giving up six runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out five.
Southern Miss and Northwestern State play the second game of the weekend series, on Saturday, at 1 p.m., at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
