Southern Miss
4-1
Illinois
3-2
Illinois Upends Baseball in Series Opener Friday 13-5
2/24/2023 10:16:00 PM | Baseball
The Golden Eagles suffered their first loss of the year as they fell to 4-1, while the Fighting Illini improved to 3-2.
Drake Westcott and Ryan Moerman each collected four RBI to lead the visitors' offensive attack, while five different Illinois players recorded two hits of the 12-hit attack in the contest.
Illinois touched Southern Miss starting pitcher Tanner Hall for five runs on six hits as he walked one and fanned four. The Fighting Illini jumped out to the lead for good with a four-run third as he took the loss and fell to 1-1.
After Cam McDonald drove in the game's first run with a sacrifice fly, Wescott belted a three-run home run off the bottom of the scoreboard in left center. Illinois added another run in the fifth on a solo homer by Branden Comia, his second of the year.
The Golden Eagles cut into the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. After the first two batters got out to open the frame, the next six Golden Eagle reached base – four by hit and two by walk – with Carson Paetow tripling in the first run. Reece Ewing and Slade Wilks then added run-scoring singles to complete the inning scoring.
Illinois, though, got those three runs back in the next stanza, with the big hit a two-run homer by Moerman, and then added a two-run seventh and a three-run eighth as they compiled 12 earned runs off six Southern Miss pitchers, a staff that had only surrendered just two earned runs over the first four games.
Wilks led the way for the Golden Eagles with three hits, including a solo homer in the seventh, his first, and a double in the ninth, in which he scored one batter later on a Rodrigo Montenegro single, which finished the Southern Miss scoring.
Joseph Glassey, the third of three Illinois pitcher, threw the final four innings and allowed two runs on five hits and one walk to get credited with the win and improve to 1-0. Starter Riley Gowens allowed three runs on three hits with four walks and seven strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings.
The teams continue the series with a 2 p.m., contest Saturday.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Glassey, Joseph (1-0)
L: Hall, Tanner (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Comia, Branden 1 ; McDonald, Cam 1 ; Moerman, Ryan 1
HR: Comia, Branden 1 ; Westcott, Drake 1 ; Moerman, Ryan 1
RBI: Comia, Branden 1 ; McDonald, Cam 2 ; Westcott, Drake 4 ; Janik, Camden 1 ; Moerman, Ryan 4
SH: Doligale, Danny 1
SF: Janik, Camden 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Doligale, Danny 1 ; Comia, Branden 2 ; McDonald, Cam 3 ; Westcott, Drake 2 ; Janik, Camden 1 ; Moerman, Ryan 1 ; Quagliano, Coltin 2 ; Hejza, Cal 1
HBP: Doligale, Danny 1
Batting:
2B: Wilks, Slade 1
3B: Paetow, Carson 1
HR: Wilks, Slade 1
RBI: Paetow, Carson 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 1 ; Wilks, Slade 2 ; Montenegro, Rodrigo 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dickerson, Dustin 1 ; Paetow, Carson 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 1 ; Wilks, Slade 2
HBP: Paetow, Carson 1 ; Robertson, Creek 1
