Southern Miss
10-5
Valparaiso
7-6
Baseball Wins Valpo Series with 11-5 Victory Sunday Afternoon
3/12/2023 5:54:00 PM | Baseball
After game officials moved the series finale start time up on Friday to 11 a.m., the game still started three hours later due to rain with most of the contest played mostly in a light shower. The victory for the Golden Eagles gave them the series win as they improved to 10-5 on the year. Valpo fell to 7-6.
After a three-up, three-down inning from Mazza to open the game, the Golden Eagles jumped out to a an early 2-0 advantage after the opening inning. Dustin Dickerson started the rally with a one-out single and then scored one batter later when Slade Wilks hit an opposite field homer over the left-center field wall for his third of the campaign.
The Beacons then scored their only run in the third off Mazza as they bunched three hits together, with the last one, a single, coming from Kyle Schmack which drove in a run.
After surrendering that RBI single, Mazza gave up just two more base runners, on a hit by pitch and a walk, as he fanned a career-best 11 and walked just two to earn the victory and improve to 3-1.
The Golden Eagles added two more runs in the third – the first coming a one a double steal with runners at the corners – with the other coming on a Tate Parker sacrifice fly.
Southern Miss increased the lead to 6-1 in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk from Parker and a sacrifice fly from Christopher Sargent.
The home team then put the game out of reach with five more runs in the eighth as Wilks started things with an RBI single. After a run scored on a wild pitch, Ewing finished the scoring with a bases-loaded clearing double to left center.
Valpo made the game closer with four runs in the ninth.
Beacon starter Griffin McCluskey (1-2) suffered the loss as he allowed four runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout over three innings.
The Golden Eagles now play their next five games on the road starting Tuesday night with a trip to Southeastern Louisiana. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mazza, Niko (3-1)
L: McCluskey, Griffin (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Hannahs, Kaleb 1
RBI: Hannahs, Kaleb 2 ; Schmack, Kyle 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Hannahs, Kaleb 2 ; Skrine, Jake 1 ; Olive, Matt 1 ; Warfield, Spencer 1
HBP: Hannahs, Kaleb 1 ; Tucker, Nolan 1 ; Skrine, Jake 1 ; Warfield, Spencer 1
Batting:
2B: Etzel, Matthew 1 ; Ewing, Reece 1
HR: Wilks, Slade 1
RBI: Wilks, Slade 3 ; Parker, Tate 2 ; Sargent, Christopher 1 ; Ewing, Reece 3
SF: Parker, Tate 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Etzel, Matthew 2 ; Dickerson, Dustin 2 ; Wilks, Slade 2 ; Faust, Brady 1 ; Artigues, Casey 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 1 ; Lynch, Danny 1 ; Robertson, Creek 1
SB: Wilks, Slade 1 ; Sargent, Christopher 1
CS: Etzel, Matthew 1
HBP: Etzel, Matthew 1 ; Wilks, Slade 1 ; Johnson, Blake 1
