Southern Miss
New Orleans
Baseball Completes Five-Game Road Swing at UNO
3/20/2023 5:28:00 PM | Baseball
Probable Starters:
Dates       Time (CT)       Probable Pitchers                                                                                                                                            Â
Tue., 21      6:30 p.m.    RH Billy Oldham, Jr. (2-0, 3.29 ERA) vs. RH Beau Blanchard, Jr. (0-1, 5.25 ERA)
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss completes a five-game road swing Tuesday night when they travel to face New Orleans in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Maestri Field.
The game has been announced as a sellout and no tickets will be available for Southern Miss fans looking to attend the game. The contest, though, can be seen on ESPN+, as well as heard on the Southern Miss Sports Network through one of its affiliates or on through the school's gameday app.
Southern Miss (12-7) comes into the contest looking to snap a two-game losing streak after opening their inaugural Sun Belt Conference season last weekend, dropping two of three games at Texas State. The Privateers hold an 11-9 record after getting swept three times at Texas over the weekend.
The two teams have already met once this season with the Golden Eagles winning 12-0 in Hattiesburg on Mardi Gras, Tuesday, Feb. 21. Southern Miss now leads the overall series 61-51 and are 18-3 over the Privateers in the Scott Berry era.
In that game, Southern Miss banged out 14 hits as Dustin Dickerson, Carson Paetow, Reece Ewing and Slade Wilks, each collected a pair of hits. Ewing came off the bench to register three RBI, while Paetow and Danny Lynch each drove in a pair of runs. Southern Miss pitching also enjoyed a great night as five hurlers combined to limit the Privateers to just one hit, a double to left in the seventh. Billy Oldham threw five innings and fanned nine in his first start for the program, while not allowing a run or hit. Isaiah Rhodes, Colby Allen, Luke Trahan and Nick Monistere each threw a scoreless inning as the group combined for a season-high tying 15 strikeouts with only two walks.
Oldham (Brookfield, Conn.) gets his second start against the Privateers and third overall this season in the rematch. Oldham is 2-0 this season with a 3.29 ERA with 19 strikeouts and seven walks. In his two starts this season, he has posted a 2-0 record and has allowed one run on four hits with two walks and 14 strikeouts over 10 innings of work.
Through the first 19 games, Southern Miss has gotten solid starting pitching. The staff, which has thrown two one-hitters this season against Liberty (2/17) and New Orleans (2/21) and is 10-5 this season with a 3.22 ERA. They have thrown 95 innings (5.0 innings per start), allowed 71 hits, while giving up 39 runs (34 earned) with 43 walks and 107 strikeouts. Teams have been hitting just .207 off Golden Eagle starters in 2023.
With five hits in the series including three in the middle game of the series, Matthew Etzel increased his current team-best hitting streak to nine games. He is hitting .368 (14x38) with two doubles, a triple and three RBI over this span.
Also, for the first time this season, the Golden Eagles are not ranked nationally in any of the major polls.
Following the UNO contest, the Golden Eagles return home for Sun Belt Conference series this weekend against Georgia Southern. Southern Miss, though, is still amid playing 13 of 17 games away from Pete Taylor Park.
