University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
26-8, 0
FIU
11-22, 0
Southern Miss Pounds 17 hits in 12-4 Series Capturing Win at FIU Friday Night
4/15/2022 10:24:00 PM | Baseball
The Golden Eagles (26-8 overall, 12-2 C-USA) extended their lead atop the league standings to 2 1/2 games over second place Louisiana Tech after the Bulldogs drop a 10-9 decision at Marshall earlier in the day.
The win was the eighth in a row for the Golden Eagles and the 16th victory over the last 18 games. Southern Miss also won their nation's leading nine-straight road triumph. FIU fell to 11-22 and 4-10.
Down 4-3 in the fifth, the Golden Eagles tied the game on Paetow's first of three RBI with a sacrifice fly.
The Golden Eagles left a season-high 17 runners on base in the contest, but the squad finally got to the Panthers by scoring eight runs over the final three frames.
The visitors broke open the game with a four-run seventh inning. Southern Miss sent 10 men to the plate as Paetow drove in his second run of the game, while Dickerson added an RBI double and Ewing knocked in the final two runs with a single.
Paetow added a run-scoring double in the eighth and Will McGillis belted a three-run homer in the ninth, his eight, to complete the USM scoring.
Hunter Riggins, who overcame a three-run, third inning that saw the Panthers collect four hits in the stanza, got the final out of the third with a strikeout. He went on to retire 10 of his final 11 batters finishing with six innings of work as he gave up four runs on seven hits with two walks and eight strikeouts to earn the victory and improve to 5-2.
Isaiah Rhodes threw the final three innings and allowed a pair of hits and a walk with four strikeouts to earn his first save.
FIU reliever Richie Pena surrendered a pair of runs over two innings with two hits and two strikeouts to suffer the loss to fall to 1-3.
The series finale will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Riggins, Hunter (5-2)
L: Richie Pena (1-3)
S: Rhodes, Isaiah (1)
Batting:
2B: Paetow, Carson 1 ; Dickerson, Dustin 1 ; Montenegro, Rodrigo 1
HR: McGillis, Will 1
RBI: Paetow, Carson 3 ; Dickerson, Dustin 1 ; Ewing, Reece 2 ; Sargent, Christopher 1 ; McGillis, Will 3 ; Montenegro, Gabe 1
SF: Paetow, Carson 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Paetow, Carson 1 ; Dickerson, Dustin 3 ; Ewing, Reece 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 1 ; Lynch, Danny 1 ; McGillis, Will 2 ; Montenegro, Gabe 1 ; Montenegro, Rodrigo 2
HBP: Ewing, Reece 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 2 ; Wilks, Slade 1
Batting:
2B: Mario Zabala 1
RBI: Dante Girardi 2 ; Matthew Gonzalez 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Steven Ondina 1 ; Alec Sanchez 1 ; Dante Girardi 1 ; Mario Zabala 1
SB: Robert Sotolongo 1 ; Dante Girardi 1 ; Mario Zabala 1
CS: Jayden Melendez 1
