University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Downs Northwestern State, 15-1
2/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Baseball Downs Northwestern State, 15-1
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Southern Miss' Cliff Russum pitched seven innings of two-hit baseball, walking one and striking out seven to post his first victory of the season and lead the Golden Eagles to a 15-1 victory over Northwestern (La.) State, here today, in the second game of the three-game weekend series at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field
"Cliff did an outstanding job his first time on the mound this season," Palmer said. "He had great command of his pitches all the way through. He was throwing 89-90 mph, and when he's doing that and has his curve ball dropping in for strikes, he is hard to handle.
"We came out and were patient at the plate and moved the ball all over the field on their left-handed starting pitcher. We did some good things offensively but we've got to come out and play as well tomorrow and finish the series on a good note."
The Golden Eagles scored 15 runs on 15 hits, led by six players with two hits each. Freshman Jody Blount hit a fourth-inning grand slam, his second home run in as many games. Senior Carlos Velasquez finished with two hits, including an eighth-inning two-run homer, his first of the season. Juniors Matt Shepherd, Jarrett Hoffpauir, Beau Griffin and Jason Lowery and sophomore Marc Maddox finished with two hits each.
"Yesterday, when coach called on me to pinch hit, I was really nervous," Blount said. "I wasn't expecting to start off with a hit, let alone a home run. Today, I felt more comfortable at the plate and had more confidence in myself."
Southern Miss (2-0) jumped on Northwestern State (3-3) early once again, scoring a run in the first, four in the second, one in the third and four in the fourth to stake a 10-0 lead. The Golden Eagles added five more runs in the eighth inning to close out the game.
In the first inning, Shepherd led off the game with single, moved to second on Maddox's ground out to first, advanced to third on Hoffpauir's walk and then scored on Velasquez's walk. The Golden Eagles plated four runs in the second inning led by Ryan Frith's double down the left field line and RBI singles by Hoffpauir, Maddox and Brad Willcutt. Griffin had a one-out double to left center in the third inning and scored on Shepherd's double to right center, giving Southern Miss a 6-0 lead.
The Golden Eagles tacked on four more runs in the fourth inning, keyed by Blount's grand slam over right center. In the five-run eighth inning, Hoffpauir drove in Shepherd, who was walked and moved to second on Maddox's single up the middle. A wild pitch and throwing error by Demon catcher Jeff Martin scored Maddox and moved Hoffpauir to third. Velasquez homered to right center, driving in Hoffpauir. Lowery then tripled to right field and scored on Griffin's single to left.
Northwestern (La.) State scored in the top of the ninth when pinch hitter Josh Dunlap doubled to left center, moved to third on Patrick Ezell's balk and scored on Brandon Morgan's sacrifice fly to right.
Ezell, a freshman, came on in relief of Russum in the eighth inning, giving up one run on one hit and striking out two in his first collegiate appearance.
Demon starting pitcher Rusty Jones (0-1) pitched 3.1 innings, giving up eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits, walking three and striking out one. Blake Jones came on in relief in the fourth inning, pitching 2.2 innings, giving up two runs on two hits, and striking out two. Daniel Desclouds finished the game, pitching the final two innings, giving up five runs on five hits, walking three and striking out three.
The final game of the three-game weekend series concludes on Sunday, at 1 p.m., at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
