Baseball Returns Home for First of Two Midweek Home Games Starting with South Alabama

Tuesday, March 8

Pete Taylor Park

6 pm

Southern Miss

South Alabama

Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com

Baseball Returns Home for First of Two Midweek Home Games Starting with South Alabama

3/7/2022 4:35:00 PM | Baseball

Game 12 South Alabama

Game Notes | Live Stats | ESPN+ | Radio Affiliates
Dates Time (CT) Probable Pitchers
Tues., 8 6 p.m. RH Jeremy Lee, So. (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. RH Tyler Stuart, So. (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After taking two of three games at Louisiana over the weekend, the Southern Miss baseball team returns home for the first of two midweek home games starting Tuesday when they entertain South Alabama. Game time is set for 6 p.m., at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.

The Golden Eagles hold an 8-3 record during the early going, while the Jaguars come into this game with an 8-2 record.

Southern Miss currently is in the midst of a tough 13-game stretch to start the month of March that includes six games against teams that reached NCAA play last season.

The Golden Eagles currently hold a 3-1 during this stretch, starting it with a 7-1 win over defending national champion Mississippi State last Wednesday night. After winning the series at Louisiana over the weekend, the Golden Eagles play South Alabama and Tulane, Wednesday, March 9, before another road weekend series at Dallas Baptist this weekend. This 13-game span ends with a home tilt versus Alabama (3/15) before opening up C-USA play at home versus Florida Atlantic (3/18-20).

The Jaguars make their second trip to Pete Taylor Park in 2022, having captured a 6-5, 13-inning victory over the Golden Eagles back on Feb. 22. The 13-inning game was the longest for the Golden Eagles in terms of innings, since the two teams played a 17-inning affair in Hattiesburg that Southern Miss won, 7-6, on April 29, 2015. It also marked the longest game in Southern Miss history in terms of innings.

Miles Simington collected the 13th-inning, game-winning single to right field in that Feb. 22 win as USA collected 13 hits and took advantage of five Southern Miss errors as the Jaguars won for the sixth-straight time in the series.

In the series win at Lafayette, Southern Miss outscored the Ragin' Cajuns 12-7 in the set. After giving up five runs over the first five innings of the series, Golden Eagle pitching did not allow a run over the next 17 2/3 frames before the Cajuns got both of their Sunday runs in the sixth inning. Hunter Riggins (Hernando, Miss.) threw a complete-game, 5-0 shutout on Saturday, limiting UL to six hits and a walk with five strikeouts as he got 14 groundouts and threw 100 pitches in the performance (71 for strikes). It was the first nine-inning, complete-game shutout for the Golden Eagles since Walker Powell did it against Old Dominion on March 22, 2019.

Senior outfielder Gabe Montenegro (Guatemala City, Guatemala) had a nice weekend to increase his current team-best hitting streak to eight games. Montenegro was 6-for-13 for the series (.462) as he collected a single in the opener, three singles in the Saturday contest and two more on Sunday. Montenegro now has 264 career hits, which places him in 10th-place on the school's career chart, trailing Hunter Slater (265) by one hit to tie for ninth. Montenegro also ranks tied for eighth in runs (183) and is sixth in singles (197).