Southern Miss
8-2
Valparaiso
1-8
Baseball Wins Games over Valparaiso and McNeese Saturday in Lake Area Classic
2/29/2020 9:42:00 PM | Baseball
The Golden Eagles improved to 3-0 in the tournament and 9-2 overall this season, while Valpo fell to 1-8 and McNeese to 7-4.
Matt Guidry led Southern Miss with six hits over the two games, which included two doubles, a triple and a two home runs along with driving in four runs, while also extending his consecutive reached base streak to 67 games.
On the mound, Southern Miss got two solid starting pitching performances on the day.
Freshman Ben Ethridge, making his first collegiate start against Valpo, gave up two runs over six innings on seven hits and one walk with a season-high nine strikeouts to get the win and improve to 2-0. Senior Walker Powell upped his record to 2-0 as well with a complete-game eight-inning showing that had him scatter six hits, walk none and fan six in the team's second shutout of the season.
Guidry hit both of his homers in the first game, the first time a Southern Miss player has done that since last season's Conference USA tournament, while Danny Lynch added two hits and three RBI, which included his fourth double of the year. Charlie Fischer added a two-run triple in the game as well as Southern Miss overcame at late charge from the Crusaders.
Southern Miss led the opening game 7-3, before breaking out with five runs in the eighth against Valpo. The Crusaders, though, rallied for five runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth, but the Golden Eagles held on for the win, beating them twice over the weekend.
Against McNeese, the Golden Eagles banged out a season-high 15 hits and scored in five different innings, as the game was called for the 10-run rule after eight frames.
Gabe Montenegro collected two hits and four RBI, including a three-run homer to cap the scoring for the Golden Eagles in the eighth. It was Montenegro's first home run of the year.
Andrew Stanley and Austen Izzio each added three hits each, while Fischer hit his second homer of the year with a blast to left. Will McGillis added a pair of RBI for the Golden Eagles in their second victory of the day.
The Golden Eagles play the final game of the tournament, Sunday, with a 1 p.m. game against McNeese.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ethridge, Ben (2-0)
L: Fields, Colin (0-3)
Batting:
2B: Guidry, Matthew 1 ; McGillis, Will 1 ; Lynch, Danny 1 ; Norris, Fisher 1
3B: Fischer, Charlie 1 ; Norris, Fisher 1
HR: Guidry, Matthew 2
RBI: Guidry, Matthew 4 ; Lynch, Danny 3 ; Fischer, Charlie 2 ; Norris, Fisher 1 ; Davis, Brian 1 ; Dickerson, Dustin 1
SF: Davis, Brian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Montenegro, Gabe 2 ; LeBlanc, Hunter 1 ; Guidry, Matthew 4 ; McGillis, Will 3 ; Lynch, Danny 2 ; Norris, Fisher 1
HBP: Montenegro, Gabe 1 ; Guidry, Matthew 1 ; McGillis, Will 1 ; Fischer, Charlie 1 ; Davis, Brian 1
Batting:
2B: Dent, Riley 1 ; Temple, Jonathan 1 ; Barczi, Christian 1 ; DiFederico, Angel 1
3B: Jorgensen, Damon 1 ; Drudge, Jeremy 1
RBI: Tucker, Nolan 1 ; Jorgensen, Damon 1 ; Temple, Jonathan 4 ; Barczi, Christian 2 ; Drudge, Jeremy 2 ; DiFederico, Angel 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tucker, Nolan 1 ; Jorgensen, Damon 1 ; Dent, Riley 1 ; Jones, Troy 2 ; Temple, Jonathan 1 ; Fitzsimmons, Steven 1 ; Schmack, Kyle 1 ; Kapers, Jake 1 ; Drudge, Jeremy 2
SB: Tucker, Nolan 1
HBP: Jones, Troy 1 ; Schmack, Kyle 1
