Thursday, May 16
Pete Taylor Park
6 p.m.
Southern Miss
35-18, 18-10
5
vs
7
Texas State
27-27, 13-15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Texas State
2
0
1
0
0
4
0
0
0
7
13
0
Southern Miss
0
0
0
0
1
3
1
0
0
5
14
0
Baseball Splits Pair of Games with Texas State Friday in Sun Belt Series
5/17/2024 7:47:00 PM | Baseball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After dropping the completion of a Thursday night suspended game 7-5, Southern Miss rallied in its regular scheduled game by defeating Texas State 6-3 as the two teams split a pair of contests Friday at Pete Taylor Park Hill Denson Field.
The Golden Eagles (36-18 overall, 19-10 Sun Belt) had their season-best eight-game winning streak snapped with the loss in the first game, but with the win clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's Sun Belt Conference Championship, set May 21-26, at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala.
In the scheduled Friday game, Matthew Russo hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth and Slade Wilks drove in four runs for the home squad.
With the game tied 3-3 in the eighth, Russo led off the frame by taking a 3-2 pitch the other way which banged off the Coca-Cola sign in left-center to break the deadlocked score. After a walk and a couple of outs later in the frame, Ozzie Pratt singled as he now has hit in 12 straight games including 10 consecutive multi-hit contests.
Wilks then followed with a two-run double to center. He already had extended his hitting streak to 27 games after homering in his first at bat – a two-run shot just inside the foul pole in left – for his 14th homer of the year which tied him for fifth in career homers at the school with 46 alongside Brad Wilcutt.
After Wilks' first-inning homer, the Golden Eagles increased their lead to 3-0 in the fourth as Seth Smith drove in Russo with a single up the middle. Russo had reached base with a double off the first base bag to open the inning.
Texas State (27-28, 13-16) came back to tie the game off Golden Eagle starter Niko Mazza in the fifth by scoring all three of their runs. They had their first six hitters in the frame to reach base with Dylan Pena singling in a run before Chase Mora adding a two-run double. Mazza then got a fielder's choice play at the plate and then a double play ball to end the threat of more runs in the frame.
Mazza went 6 1/3 innings for Southern Miss as his quality start included three runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts. It was reliever Chander Best who came in the seventh and retired five of eight batters – he allowed an intentional walk and two hits – to register the win and improve to 3-0. Colby Alen retired all three men he faced in the ninth, with two strikeouts, to earn his fifth save.
Bobcat reliever Peyton Zabel allowed two runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout over an inning to suffer the loss and fall to 2-5.
In the suspended game, the Golden Eagles were down 7-5 when play resumed in the bottom of the eighth. The Golden Eagles got runners on in both the eighth and ninth innings but could not score.
Texas State had jumped out to a 7-1 advantage on Thursday night, before the Golden Eagles rallied for three runs in the sixth on a Russo RBI single before Dalton McIntyre knocked in a pair of runs with a double to left. Davis Gillespie registered a run-scoring single an inning later, but that was as close as the home team could get the rest of the way.
Bobcat starter Cameron Bush went five strong innings as he allowed one run by scattering seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts to earn the win and improve to 2-0. Billy Oldham (7-2) gave up five runs over five innings on nine hits with a walk and two strikeouts to suffer the loss.
The two teams complete the regular season with a 1 p.m., Saturday contest. Eight Golden Eagle seniors will be recognized prior to the game.
The Golden Eagles (36-18 overall, 19-10 Sun Belt) had their season-best eight-game winning streak snapped with the loss in the first game, but with the win clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's Sun Belt Conference Championship, set May 21-26, at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala.
In the scheduled Friday game, Matthew Russo hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth and Slade Wilks drove in four runs for the home squad.
With the game tied 3-3 in the eighth, Russo led off the frame by taking a 3-2 pitch the other way which banged off the Coca-Cola sign in left-center to break the deadlocked score. After a walk and a couple of outs later in the frame, Ozzie Pratt singled as he now has hit in 12 straight games including 10 consecutive multi-hit contests.
Wilks then followed with a two-run double to center. He already had extended his hitting streak to 27 games after homering in his first at bat – a two-run shot just inside the foul pole in left – for his 14th homer of the year which tied him for fifth in career homers at the school with 46 alongside Brad Wilcutt.
After Wilks' first-inning homer, the Golden Eagles increased their lead to 3-0 in the fourth as Seth Smith drove in Russo with a single up the middle. Russo had reached base with a double off the first base bag to open the inning.
Texas State (27-28, 13-16) came back to tie the game off Golden Eagle starter Niko Mazza in the fifth by scoring all three of their runs. They had their first six hitters in the frame to reach base with Dylan Pena singling in a run before Chase Mora adding a two-run double. Mazza then got a fielder's choice play at the plate and then a double play ball to end the threat of more runs in the frame.
Mazza went 6 1/3 innings for Southern Miss as his quality start included three runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts. It was reliever Chander Best who came in the seventh and retired five of eight batters – he allowed an intentional walk and two hits – to register the win and improve to 3-0. Colby Alen retired all three men he faced in the ninth, with two strikeouts, to earn his fifth save.
Bobcat reliever Peyton Zabel allowed two runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout over an inning to suffer the loss and fall to 2-5.
In the suspended game, the Golden Eagles were down 7-5 when play resumed in the bottom of the eighth. The Golden Eagles got runners on in both the eighth and ninth innings but could not score.
Texas State had jumped out to a 7-1 advantage on Thursday night, before the Golden Eagles rallied for three runs in the sixth on a Russo RBI single before Dalton McIntyre knocked in a pair of runs with a double to left. Davis Gillespie registered a run-scoring single an inning later, but that was as close as the home team could get the rest of the way.
Bobcat starter Cameron Bush went five strong innings as he allowed one run by scattering seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts to earn the win and improve to 2-0. Billy Oldham (7-2) gave up five runs over five innings on nine hits with a walk and two strikeouts to suffer the loss.
The two teams complete the regular season with a 1 p.m., Saturday contest. Eight Golden Eagle seniors will be recognized prior to the game.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bush, Cameron (2-0)
L: Oldham, Billy (7-2)
S: Robie, Tony (1)
Batting:
2B: Farber, Ryne 1 ; Lugo, Aaron 2 ; Pena, Daylan 1
RBI: Lugo, Aaron 5 ; Pena, Daylan 1 ; Gonzales, Alex 1
SH: Powell, Davis 1
SF: Gonzales, Alex 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Weil, Kameron 1 ; Mora, Chase 2 ; Farber, Ryne 1 ; Powell, Davis 1 ; Patino, Alec 1 ; Pena, Daylan 1
SB: Weil, Kameron 2 ; Farber, Ryne 1 ; Lugo, Aaron 1
HBP: Weil, Kameron 1 ; Mora, Chase 1
Batting:
2B: McIntyre, Dalton 1 ; Pratt, Ozzie 2 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Paetow, Carson 1
RBI: McIntyre, Dalton 2 ; Gillespie, Davis 2 ; Russo, Matthew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pratt, Ozzie 1 ; Wilks, Slade 1 ; Paetow, Carson 1 ; Russo, Matthew 1 ; Stockman, Tucker 1
HBP: Paetow, Carson 1 ; Russo, Matthew 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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INF
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