Southern Miss
Tulane
Baseball Pounds Tulane, 16-2 in the Series Opener
5/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 1, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - Southern Miss pounded out 15 hits in a 16-2 rout of Tulane in the Conference USA series opener Friday night in New Orleans.
Tonight's game was the fifth straight win for the Golden Eagles and the third straight win over Tulane, dating back to last season.
"I was real proud of the way out team came out and played tonight, I thought we were very focused from the first pitch and did not let that intensity up until the final out was recorded," head coach Scott Berry said.
The first six inning looked like a pitchers duel with the Golden Eagles holding a slim 2-0 advantage, but Southern Miss erupted for 14 runs in their final three at bats including a 10 run ninth inning to put the game out of reach for Tulane.
Scott Copeland (6-0) turned in another outstanding outing tonight, working 5.1 innings allowing only two hits while striking four. He stranded two runners in each of the first three innings to keep Tulane off the board. The Golden Eagles are now 8-1 this season in games he has started.
"Scott did all we asked him to do and that was keep us in the game and give us a chance to win, I thought he had another solid outing tonight," Berry added.
Paxton King threw very well in relief of Copeland, working 2.2 innings allowing three hits, two of which were solo home runs, and striking out three.
Jay Myrick finished off the ninth inning allowing one hit.
The Southern Miss (23-17) pitching staff really threw well with runners in scoring position, holding Tulane 0-for-9 while the Golden Eagles were able to deliver the key hits going 8-14 with runners in scoring position.
Tyler Koelling led the offensive attack, going three-for-four with a three run home run, two runs scored and four RBI. Joey Archer added in two hits along with three runs and three RBI.
Southern Miss jumped out to an early lead as Kameron Brunty hit his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot down the left field line, scoring Tyler Koelling who singled to reach base. For Brunty it was his third home run in the last five games.
Tulane (26-17) had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth as Copeland walked two batters and King walked the first batter he faced to load the bases with one out. King then left the bases loaded with two consecutive strike outs to end the frame and the Tulane threat.
Southern Miss struck again in the top of the seventh as Joey Archer led off the inning with a single up the middle and scored on Tyler Koelling's RBI double.
Tulane scored their first run in the bottom of the seventh as Rob Segedin hit a solo home run off King to make to make the score 3-1.
The Golden Eagles added three insurance runs with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. Vollmuth started the inning by drawing and 11 pitch walk and Day singled to left field. Joey Archer followed with a double to right-center to score Vollmuth and Day and Travis Graves lined the next pitch into the same right-center gap to score Archer.
Tulane added their second run in the bottom of the eight on a solo home run by Garrett Cannizaro to make the score 6-2.
Southern Miss blew the game wide open in the top of the ninth inning sending 14 hitters to the plate and scoring 10 runs. Walker, Vollmuth and Doleac all drew walks to load the bases to start the inning and the Tulane reliever were unable to throw strikes. The Green Wave defense allowed the first run to score on a bad throw to home that would have been the first out of the inning, which allowed Walker to score. The next four Southern Miss hitters all platted a runs as Day singled, Archer drew a bases loaded walk, Graves singled and Koelling blasted a three-run home run. Travis Creel added the final RBI of the inning on a single back up the middle.
The two teams will meet for game two of the series on Saturday, first pitch is set for 2:00 p.m.
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