University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Saint Mary's
Baseball Falls in Series Opener to St. Mary's
4/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 1, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern fell behind 10-0 after the first three innings and could not come back in a 19-10 loss Thursday evening to St. Mary's at Pete Taylor Park.
"The tone of the game was set early and we were not ever able to recover," head coach Scott Berry said. "It is hard to recover when you give up two grand slams. The only thing you can do if come out tomorrow and get yourself out of this in a new opportunity."
Pitching was once again an issue for the Golden Eagles as five different pitchers allowed 19 earned runs on 17 hits.
At the plate the offense scored 11 runs on 12 hits, including three home runs. B.A. Vollmuth led the charge with a two-for-two night, including a three-run home run, his third consecutive game with a home run.
Freshman Geoffrey Thomas struggled on the mound in his sixth start of the season, lasting only 2.1 innings allowing seven runs on five hits. The relievers behind him did not fare much better. Seth Hester allowed three runs in two-thirds of an inning, Jeff Stanley gave up four runs in 3.1 innings, Matt Warren surrendered four runs in a third of an inning while Josh Jones closed out the game allowing one run in 2.1 innings.
St. Mary's (8-13-1) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with two home runs in the top of the first inning. The third batter of the inning, Troy Channing, hit a two-run shot into the scoreboard and three pitches later Patrick Wisdom hit a solo shot.
The Gaels added to their lead in the top of the second as Chris Murphy reached on a bunt single and came around to score on a suicide squeeze.
St. Mary's extended their lead to 10 runs in the third inning as Thomas loaded the bases on three consecutive walks before being pulled for reliever Seth Hester. The first batter Hester faced, Brenden Kalfus, delivered a grand slam over the center field wall.
The rally continued in the third as Justin Fazio hit a soft flare that fell in shallow left-center field to plate two more runs.
The Golden Eagles (14-10) answered right back in the bottom of the fourth as Marc Bourgeois hit his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot over the left field wall to start the rally.
The Golden Eagled loaded the bases and Adam Doleac drew a walk to force in a run before Mark Ellis platted another on a RBI fielders choice to make the score 10-3.
Southern Miss cut further into the St. Mary's lead with three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as B.A. Vollmuth hit a home run for the third consecutive game, a three-run line drive over the left field wall. For Vollmuth it was his team high sixth of the season.
St. Mary's added a single run in the top of the sixth as Mikey Reynolds tripled and came in to score on a fielder's choice ground out to make the score 11-6.
The Gaels struck again in the top of the seventh on a RBI singles by Michael Cipolla and Reynolds along with a wild pitch by reliever Matt Warren to make the score 14-6.
The big blow of the inning was the Channing's second home run of the game, a grand slam off Warren to make the score 18-6.
Murphy hit his second home run of the game, a solo shot off reliever Josh Jones, to lead off the eighth inning.
Isaac Rodriguez added a RBI single in the bottom of the eighth off the St. Mary's pitchers leg, scoring Mark Buchanan, who collected his first career hit earlier in the inning.
Anthony Doss added in a RBI double and Travis Creel followed with a two-RBI double to make the score 19-10.
The two teams will meet for game two of the series tomorrow with Todd McInnis on the mound for Southern Miss. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
-southernmiss.com-
