Southern Miss
Missouri State
Vollmuth Homers Twice in Victory over Missouri State
3/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 11, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - B.A. Vollmuth homered twice and Southern Miss belted out a season-high hit total to defeat Missouri State 10-4 here in the first of a three-game series Friday night at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
The Golden Eagles (9-3), which won for the eighth consecutive time over MSU, collected 16 hits in the affair and took advantage of four Bear errors as they scored at least one run in six of eight innings.
Southern Miss also used three double plays to get out of inning jams during the contest and that was a big lift for the Golden Eagles on the offensive side according to coach Scott Berry as the team now has turned 21 over the first 12 games.
"The double plays we turned were huge momentum-turners in the game," said Berry. "It's something that we work on a lot, and we were good at it tonight when we had the opportunities."
Vollmuth exploded for two long home runs with the first one going high over the billboard above the leftfield wall and one the second shot hit deep over the scoreboard in left-centerfield.
The Biloxi, Miss., native delivered a two-run shot in the second and then added a solo shot in the sixth to finish the game with three runs batted in.
Kameron Brunty led the way with four hits for the Golden Eagles, while Chase Fowler added three and a pair of RBI. Mark Ellis and Isaac Rodriguez also added two hits each in the Golden Eagles' top hitting output of the season.
Kevin Medrano, Luke Voit and Travis McComack each paced the Bears (8-5) with two hits apiece.
Southern Miss starting pitcher Jonathan Thompson (2-0) threw five-plus innings and allowed three runs on five hits and four walks with three strikeouts. Chase Horn threw the final four innings allowing a run on four hits with four strikeouts to earn his first save of the campaign.
Grant Gordon, the MSU starting pitcher, suffered the loss by allowing eight runs (three earned) on 11 hits and two walks, while fanning six to fall to 1-2. The two teams continue the series with a 2 p.m., contest Saturday. The Golden Eagles will start senior righthander Todd McInnis (2-1, 3.50 ERA) against righthander Pierce Johnson (2-0, 7.71 ERA).
