Southern Miss
13-6, 4-0
Old Dominion
15-6, 1-3
Walker Powell Tosses Complete-Game Shutout to Open ODU Series
3/22/2019 10:12:00 PM | Baseball
The Golden Eagles collect an 11-0 victory Friday night.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- With Southern Miss' pitching rotation out of kilter this weekend, junior right-hander Walker Powell delivered the performance of his Golden Eagle career.
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Powell, who did not make it out of the second inning in his last Friday night under the lights, turned in a three-hit, complete-game shutout, his first collegiate complete game and the first complete game by a Golden Eagle this season, as Southern Miss defeated Old Dominion 11-0 at Pete Taylor Park.
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"It's just the plan that Coach (Christian Ostrander) and I have put in place, just pitch to my strengths," said Powell, who got 14 groundball outs and struck out six. "It's pretty simple: Pitch to the (strike) zone and keep the ball down. You do that, you're going to be pretty successful."
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It was the fourth consecutive Conference USA victory for the Golden Eagles (13-6, 4-0 C-USA) and their ninth win in the past 10 games overall. ODU (15-6, 1-3) saw a three-game winning streak snapped.
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"Our offense is back on track, and I feel like we have our confidence back," said Southern Miss outfielder Gabe Montenegro, who went 3-for-5 and scored three times from his leadoff spot atop the batting order.
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Southern Miss mashed out 12 hits, including three each by Montenegro and first baseman Hunter Slater, who logged his fourth three-hit outings in his last five games. Slater drove in three runs.
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Cleanup hitter Brant Blaylock drove in four runs, including a two-run single in Southern Miss' three-run, third inning. Second baseman Matt Guidry drove in a pair of runs and scored three times and third baseman Danny Lynch scored twice.
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"Our offense has picked up these last five games," Berry said. "We only left eight on (Friday), and the thing I relay liked was that we kept getting runs in.
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"The main thing is, we kept the momentum going by scoring runs."
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Powell (2-0) allowed runners to get as far as second base in only the second and third innings, did not walk a batter and needed less than 100 pitches to cover the nine innings.
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Southern Miss scored off ODU starter Nick Pantos (3-1) in the first inning, when Guidry was hit by a pitch, moved to third on Slater's single and scored on Blaylock's grounder.
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The lead grew to 4-0 in the third inning, with Blaylock's two-run infield single providing the big hit.
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Guidry had a two-out RBI-double and Slater followed with a two-out, two-run single to push Southern Miss' lead to 7-0.
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Slater had an RBI-single in a two-run sixth inning, while Donaldson and Blaylock each drove in a run in the eighth inning to make the score 11-0.
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The teams meet at 2 p.m. Saturday. With starter Stevie Powers sidelined, Southern Miss will turn to senior right-hander Mason Strickland to take the mound.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Powell, Walker (2-0)
L: Nick Pantos (3-1)
Base Running:
CS: Kyle Battle 1
HBP: Will Morgan 1
Batting:
2B: Guidry, Matthew 1 ; Lynch, Danny 1
RBI: Guidry, Matthew 2 ; Slater, Hunter 3 ; Blaylock, Brant 4 ; Donaldson, Cole 1
SF: Donaldson, Cole 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Montenegro, Gabe 3 ; Guidry, Matthew 3 ; Cooper, Storme 1 ; Blaylock, Brant 1 ; Lynch, Danny 2 ; McGillis, Will 1
SB: Blaylock, Brant 1
CS: Donaldson, Cole 1
HBP: Guidry, Matthew 1 ; Blaylock, Brant 1 ; Lynch, Danny 1
