Friday, March 25
Bowling Green, Ky.
5 pm
Southern Miss
15-7, 3-1
10
at
8
WKU
9-12, 1-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Southern Miss
0
1
2
0
2
0
0
3
2
10
14
4
WKU
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
5
2
8
11
2
Baseball Holds Off WKU in 10-8 C-USA Series Opener Friday Evening
3/25/2022 8:47:00 PM | Baseball
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Southern Miss thwarted a late WKU rally as the Golden Eagles pulled out a 10-8 Conference USA baseball victory Friday evening at Nick Denes Field, giving coach Scott Berry his 450th career victory with the program.
Dustin Dickerson paced the Golden Eagles (15-7 overall, 3-1 C-USA) with four of their season-high 14 hits in the contest as they jumped out to an 8-1 in the contest heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Tanner Hall, who got the start for Southern Miss on the mound, kept the Hilltoppers (9-12, 1-3) in check through the first seven innings, before WKU scored four times off of him in the eighth on four hits and an error. The Golden Eagles went on to allow a fifth run in the frame as the game got considerably closer at 8-6.
Southern Miss then struck again for a couple of runs in the ninth to make the score 10-6, as they put together an RBI double from Slade Wilks and a run via a double steal that was thrown away on the play.
WKU, though, was not done yet.
The Golden Eagles went to Garrett Ramsey in the ninth to close out the game. After a groundout, Ramsey hit a batter before walking the next two to load the bases. Southern Miss then went to Landon Harper who got a fielder's choice to allow a run to score. The relay throw on the potential double play was errant to give WKU another run to cut the deficit to two runs.
Harper then got Andrew Delaney to strikeout to end the game and earn his third save.
Hall got the victory to improve to 3-0 as he gave up five runs (four earned) on nine hits and no walks with nine strikeouts over 7 2/3 frames.
WKU starter Jake Kates (3-2) suffered the loss as he surrendered five runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts in six innings of work.
The Golden Eagles started the scoring with a solo run in the second. Danny Lynch, who had two doubles in the contest, led off the frame with his initial one down the rightfield line and scored one batter later on a Will McGillis single.
That lead increased to 3-0 one frame later. Dickerson increased his hitting streak to five games with a leadoff single. After a pair of outs, Slade Wilks went the other way for a homer to left center by going deep for the second-straight game and second time this year.
Southern Miss added to its lead with two more runs in the fifth. Dickerson opened the frame with a double off the top of the wall and Christopher Sargent followed with a two-run homer, his fifth, to right.
After the Hilltoppers got a run in the sixth on a throwing error to the plate on a double steal, the Golden Eagles increased their lead with three more tallies in the eighth. Lynch led off the frame with a double. After a couple of walks and Lynch getting thrown out stealing at third, Gabe Montenegro drove in a run with a single before Dickerson added a run-scoring single. The final tally of the inning came via a wild pitch.
Berry improved to 450-244-1 as the Golden Eagles head coach and trails Corky Palmer (458) by eight victories to tie for second place on the Southern Miss baseball win chart for coaches.
The two teams continue the series with a 1 p.m., contest Saturday.
Dustin Dickerson paced the Golden Eagles (15-7 overall, 3-1 C-USA) with four of their season-high 14 hits in the contest as they jumped out to an 8-1 in the contest heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Tanner Hall, who got the start for Southern Miss on the mound, kept the Hilltoppers (9-12, 1-3) in check through the first seven innings, before WKU scored four times off of him in the eighth on four hits and an error. The Golden Eagles went on to allow a fifth run in the frame as the game got considerably closer at 8-6.
Southern Miss then struck again for a couple of runs in the ninth to make the score 10-6, as they put together an RBI double from Slade Wilks and a run via a double steal that was thrown away on the play.
WKU, though, was not done yet.
The Golden Eagles went to Garrett Ramsey in the ninth to close out the game. After a groundout, Ramsey hit a batter before walking the next two to load the bases. Southern Miss then went to Landon Harper who got a fielder's choice to allow a run to score. The relay throw on the potential double play was errant to give WKU another run to cut the deficit to two runs.
Harper then got Andrew Delaney to strikeout to end the game and earn his third save.
Hall got the victory to improve to 3-0 as he gave up five runs (four earned) on nine hits and no walks with nine strikeouts over 7 2/3 frames.
WKU starter Jake Kates (3-2) suffered the loss as he surrendered five runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts in six innings of work.
The Golden Eagles started the scoring with a solo run in the second. Danny Lynch, who had two doubles in the contest, led off the frame with his initial one down the rightfield line and scored one batter later on a Will McGillis single.
That lead increased to 3-0 one frame later. Dickerson increased his hitting streak to five games with a leadoff single. After a pair of outs, Slade Wilks went the other way for a homer to left center by going deep for the second-straight game and second time this year.
Southern Miss added to its lead with two more runs in the fifth. Dickerson opened the frame with a double off the top of the wall and Christopher Sargent followed with a two-run homer, his fifth, to right.
After the Hilltoppers got a run in the sixth on a throwing error to the plate on a double steal, the Golden Eagles increased their lead with three more tallies in the eighth. Lynch led off the frame with a double. After a couple of walks and Lynch getting thrown out stealing at third, Gabe Montenegro drove in a run with a single before Dickerson added a run-scoring single. The final tally of the inning came via a wild pitch.
Berry improved to 450-244-1 as the Golden Eagles head coach and trails Corky Palmer (458) by eight victories to tie for second place on the Southern Miss baseball win chart for coaches.
The two teams continue the series with a 1 p.m., contest Saturday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hall, Tanner (3-0)
L: Kates, J. (3-2)
S: Harper, Landon (3)
Batting:
2B: Dickerson, Dustin 2 ; Wilks, Slade 1 ; Lynch, Danny 2
HR: Sargent, Christopher 1 ; Wilks, Slade 1
RBI: Montenegro, Gabe 1 ; Dickerson, Dustin 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 2 ; Wilks, Slade 2 ; McGillis, Will 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Montenegro, Gabe 1 ; Dickerson, Dustin 2 ; Sargent, Christopher 2 ; Wilks, Slade 2 ; Lynch, Danny 1 ; Paetow, Carson 1 ; Montenegro, Rodrigo 1
SB: McGillis, Will 2
CS: Lynch, Danny 1
Batting:
2B: Delaney, A. 1 ; McAuliffe, B 2 ; Carlin, J. 1 ; Gray, J. 1
RBI: Garcia, T. 1 ; Batusich, T. 2 ; McAuliffe, B 2 ; Carlin, J. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Meyer, M. 1 ; Garcia, T. 3 ; Batusich, T. 1 ; Delaney, A. 1 ; McAuliffe, B 1 ; Gray, J. 1
SB: Gilroy, A. 1
HBP: Meyer, M. 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
4
RBI
1
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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