Southern Miss
Houston
Baseball Splits Double Header at Houston
4/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Southern Miss baseball team split a Conference USA double header at Houston Saturday afternoon winning the first game 3-1 and dropping the night cap 4-3.
Southern Miss won game one behind Todd McInnis near compete game and Joey Archer's two RBI performance.
In game two, Houston struck for three early runs and held on behind the pitching of Wes Musick and Donnie Joseph.
On the day Archer led the Southern Miss offensive attack with three RBI singles and Tyler Koelling added in four hits, two in each game.
The Golden Eagles are now 22-12 and 8-4 in League play while Houston sits at 15-19 and 5-4 in C-USA.
"Anytime you can get two games out of the three on the road you have to be pleased," head coach Corky Palmer said. "We had a chance for the sweep but we will take the two conference wins."
Southern Miss will return home Tuesday as they host Jackson State for a midweek tilt at "The Pete," first pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
GAME ONE RECAP
Southern Miss 3, Houston 1
The Golden Eagles started game one just as they the did on Friday night with a long first innings, scoring two runs this time keyed by a Joey Archer two-RBI bases loaded single.
Kameron Brunty added a two-out RBI single to score Brian Dozier in the top of the third and put Southern Miss up 3-0.
Those three runs would be plenty of support for starting pitcher Todd McInnis who was nearly able to fire a compete game shutout, just two outs shy of the feat. McInnis started the ninth inning with a routine fly ball and a strikeout, but the third strike went to the backstop allowing the Houston hitter to reach base. Two batters later a Ty Stucky RBI single broke up the shutout and ended the day for McInnis.
McInnis worked 8.1 innings allowing only seven hits and the one late run while striking out five to pick up his fifth win of the season. In five of his eight complete innings he faced the minimum three hitters, including a stretch from the fourth until the eighth where only two of 18 hitters recorded a hit.
"I thought McInnis was tremendous today," Palmer said. "He stretched the game all the way to the ninth inning and we were able to score enough to win."
Collin Cargill recorded the final two outs and left the bases loaded to end the game and record his fifth save of the season.
GAME TWO RECAP
Houston 4, Southern Miss 3
Houston struck for the games first run in the top of the first on a RBI single by Caleb Ramsey and added two more runs in the second inning on a RBI singles by Matt Murphy and Blake Kelso for an early 3-0 lead.
Southern Miss cracked the scoreboard in the top of the third on Joey Archer's soft RBI single to center field to score Bo Davis and make the score 3-1.
In the top of the fourth, Bo Davis added a RBI single on a ground ball that took a funny hop over Houston first baseman Ty Stuckey's head to score Corey Stevens, cutting the Houston lead to 3-2.
Ramsey added another RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to put Houston back on top by two.
Southern Miss answered right back in the top of the seventh as Joey Archer delivered his second RBI single of the game, this time a two-out shot past the third baseman to score Dozier.
One bright spot was the way Jeff Stanley threw in relief of Scott Copeland. Stanley worked 3.2 innings allowing only four hits and one run while striking out three, by far his best outing wearing the black and gold.
Copeland was roughed up for three runs on seven hits while working only 1.2 innings.
"Game two was a tough, well-played game," Palmer added. "I thought that was the best that Stanley has pitched since he has been here and hopefully he can build off that. Houston's pitchers were outstanding today and held us when it counted."
