Southern Miss
LSU
LSU Edges Baseball, 2-1, in Weekend Series Opener
3/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 9, 2007
BATON ROUGE, La. - J.T. Wise's sacrifice fly to right field scored Sean Ochinko from third base for the go ahead run in the seventh inning to lead LSU to a 2-1 victory over No. 26 Southern Miss, at Alex Box Stadium in front of 7,371 in attendance.
In the seventh inning, Ochinko hit a one-out single up the middle, advanced to third on Steven Waguespack's single through the right side, setting up the sacrifice fly by Wise for the winning run.
Pinch hitter Luke Adkins led off the ninth inning with an infield single to short, Brian Dozier singled through the left side before Trey Sutton reached on a fielder's choice when he grounded to short. James Ewing hit a sharp liner to right field that was caught by Waguespeck and then he doubled Sutton at first base to end the rally.
LSU (10-6) finished with two runs on four hits and committed two errors, while Southern Miss (11-3) scored one run on five hits and committed one error.
LSU starting pitcher Charlie Furbush (2-1) won the game, pitching eight innings, giving up one unearned run on three hits and striking out five. Louis Coleman (2) picked up his second save of the season, pitching the final inning, giving up two hits.
Southern Miss was led by Dozier, who finished with two hits. Sutton, Adkins and Trey Cuevas each finished with a hit for the Golden Eagles. LSU had four players finish with one hit each.
Southern Miss starting pitcher Ryan Belanger (2-1) was credited with the loss, pitching 6.2 innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on four hits and striking out six. JR Ballinger came on in relief of Belanger in the seventh inning and finished the final 1.1 innings, not giving up a hit. The run by LSU in the fifth inning broke Southern Miss' scoreless streak that had reached 26.2 innings, dating back to the Louisiana-Lafayette game on Saturday, March 3.
The Golden Eagles took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Sutton reached on a fielding error by first baseman Jordan Mayer, and advanced to second on a throwing error by second baseman Chris Jackson. He moved to third when James Ewing grounded out to second and then a passed ball by catcher Ochinko allowed Sutton to reach third.
LSU scored a run in the fifth inning to tie the game at 1-1. Ochinko reached on a fielding error by James Ewing and then scored when Mayer tripled to right center.
Southern Miss and LSU play the second game of the three-game weekend series on Saturday, March 10, at 2 p.m., at Alex Box Stadium.
