Southern Miss
Florida International
Baseball Evens FIU Series with 7-3 Win on Saturday
3/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Taylor Braley and Breck Kline each drove in a pair of runs and Cody Carroll limited FIU to two runs over seven innings as Southern Miss defeated the Panthers 7-3 here Saturday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field to even its Conference USA set.
The Golden Eagles (10-7-1, 1-1 C-USA) go for the series victory with a 12 noon contest on Sunday.
Connor Barron led the Golden Eagles with three of the team's nine hits and Braley added a pair as well.
It was FIU, though, got to Carroll first in the third on an RBI single by Julius Gaines. After a walk to load the bases in which the visitors looked to pad its lead, Carroll got Brian Portelli to ground into a double play to end the threat. It was the first of two twin-killings for Southern Miss on the day.
That was the most trouble Carroll got into until the seventh as he gave up an unearned run, which scored on the team's second turned double play. Carroll scattered seven hits and gave up just one earned run on three walks while tying a career-high with eight strikeouts. For his effort, Carroll got the victory to go to 1-0 after suffering through four no decisions to start the season.
The Golden Eagles took the lead for good in the fifth with three runs. After a walk to Barron and Daniel Keating was hit by a pitch, Dylan Burdeaux put down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up. The Panthers (9-10, 1-1) looked to get out of it with a strikeout to make it two outs. The Panthers then decided to intentionally walk Tim Lynch to load the bases and Braley made them pay with a two-run single to center off of FIU starter Andes Nunez. Tim Lynch added to the lead by scoring on a wild pitch later in the frame to make the score 3-1.
Nunez, who lasted 4 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on six hits and four walks with six strikeouts, suffered the loss and fell to 2-2 on the year.
With the Golden Eagles leading 3-2 in the seventh, Southern Miss added a run in the seventh on a RBI single by Austin Roussel and then broke open the game with three more runs in the eighth. Kline doubled in the first two runs and then scored on a wild pitch to complete the Eagles' scoring.
Ryan Milton threw the final two innings for Southern Miss to earn his fourth save of the year. The senior from Albany, La., gave up an unearned run in the ninth on two hits with three strikeouts to close out the game.
