Southern Miss
7-5
Louisiana-Lafayette
9-6
Big Inning Lifts Southern Miss over the Cajuns 13-4 in Series Opener
3/12/2021 10:38:00 PM | Baseball
The Golden Eagles, which won their third game in a row to improve to 7-5, collected a season-high run and hit (13) total as they also registered their biggest scoring inning of the year.
Leading 2-1 in the second, Ragin' Cajun ace Hayden Durke got the first two batters out before surrendering back-to-back singles to Dustin Dickerson and Gabe Montenegro. After a walk to Reed Trimble to load the bases, Charlie Fisher drove home Dickerson with another walk.
Christopher Sargent then blasted a grand slam to left to break open the game, which was his third homer of the season and the first grand slam by the Golden Eagles since Matt Guidry belted one against LSU on June 1, 2019, in the NCAA Baton Rouge regional.
Reece Ewing then followed with a mammoth blast to right, a solo shot for his second of the year. Will McGillis got hit by a pitch before DJ Lynch clobbered his second homer of the year to right field to give the Golden Eagles a 10-1 advantage.
That sent Durke from the game but not before he gave up 10 runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts to suffer the loss and fall to 2-1.
The Golden Eagles, while scored first-inning runs on a run-scoring double by Fischer and a RBI single from Ewing, added to their lead with a bases loaded walk to Ewing in the third, before scoring their final runs on a two-out McGillis double in the seventh.
The Ragin' Cajuns (9-6) took advantage of two Golden Eagles to score a run in the opening frame via a sacrifice fly from Bobby Lada.
They added a pair of solo home runs off of starter Hunter Stanley by Ben Fitzgerald and Drake Osborn in the fourth, before taking advantage of another Golden Eagle error in the ninth, eventually scoring on a groundout by Brennan Breaux.
Stanley went a career-high seven innings as he gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk with eight strikeouts to earn the victory and improve to 2-1. Justin Storm threw a perfect eighth and Blake Wehunt gave up an unearned run in the ninth for the Golden Eagle pitching staff.
The two teams return to action Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Stanley, Hunter (2-1)
L: Durke, Hayden (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Osborn, Drake 1
HR: Fitzgerald, Ben 1 ; Osborn, Drake 1
RBI: Fitzgerald, Ben 1 ; Lada, Bobby 1 ; Osborn, Drake 1 ; Breaux, Brennan 1
SF: Lada, Bobby 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Robertson, Tyler 1 ; Fitzgerald, Ben 1 ; Osborn, Drake 2
SB: Robertson, Tyler 1
Batting:
2B: Fischer, Charlie 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 1 ; McGillis, Will 1 ; Dickerson, Dustin 1
HR: Sargent, Christopher 1 ; Ewing, Reece 1 ; Lynch, Danny 1
RBI: Fischer, Charlie 2 ; Sargent, Christopher 4 ; Ewing, Reece 3 ; McGillis, Will 2 ; Lynch, Danny 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Montenegro, Gabe 2 ; Trimble, Reed 2 ; Fischer, Charlie 2 ; Faust, Brady 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 2 ; Ewing, Reece 1 ; McGillis, Will 1 ; Lynch, Danny 1 ; Dickerson, Dustin 1
SB: McGillis, Will 1
HBP: Sargent, Christopher 1 ; McGillis, Will 1
