
Baseball Beats App State 7-5 in Guardian Credit Union SBC Baseball Championship to Advance to Final
5/25/2024 10:42:00 PM | Baseball
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – No. 2 seed Southern Miss overcame a three-run deficit and over eight hours in a pair of weather delays to defeat No. 6 App State 7-5 Saturday at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala.
With the victory, the Golden Eagles (40-18) advance to Sunday's league final for the second consecutive year – game time is TBA – against either No. 5 Georgia Southern or No. 4 James Madison. The victory was the fifth in a row and 13th over the last 14 games for Southern Miss. It also marked the 40th win of the season, increasing the Golden Eagles Division 1-best current streak to eight-straight years of 40 or more wins.
In a game that saw two rain delays, one of 2 hours, 48 minutes and the other 5 hours and 36 minutes, the contest finally resumed with one on and one-out in the bottom of the sixth. Josh Och was put into the game on the mound when it resumed. After giving up a single to begin his outing, Oct retired 10 of the next 11 batters before allowing a double and a hit batter in the eighth.
With two outs, Colby Allen entered the game and got Banks Tolley, who drove in four runs for the Mountaineers, to ground out to third to end the threat. Allen then stranded the bases loaded in the ninth with a strikeout to end the game to earn his seventh save.
The Mountaineers had jumped out to an early advantage with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fist. Austin St. Laurent singled to open the frame and went to third on a double by Drew Holderbach. The first run then came courtesy of a Tolley RBI groundout before CJ Boyd knocked in the second run with a double.
Southern Miss took its first lead with three runs in the top half of the second. After Nick Monistere was hit by a pitch, Matthew Russo and Seth Smith both walked. Monistere then scored on a wild pitch before Russo came in on ground ball double play by Gabe Broadus.
A three-run homer by Tolley in the bottom of the second helped the Mountaineers regain the lead, but that was short lived as the Golden Eagles exploded for five runs in the fifth.
Broadus, Dalton McIntyre, and Ozzie Pratt all singled to open the frame and load the bases. App State then went to the bullpen and Slade Wilks greeted the new pitcher with a two-run double in the left field gap on his first pitch. The hit extended Wilks' hitting streak to 31 games. Davis Gillespie then followed with a hard grounder off the pitcher that ricocheted to the first baseman for the first out, but Pratt scored on the play. Monistere then followed with a majestic two-run home run to 7-5 advantage with his 10 round-tripper of the year.
ASU reliever Everette Harris gave up two runs on two hits and with a walk over 2/3 of an inning to suffer the loss to fall to 0-2. App State (33-21-1) was eliminated from the event.
The game can be seen via ESPN+ as well as heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network and the audio only through SouthernMiss.com.
With the victory, the Golden Eagles (40-18) advance to Sunday's league final for the second consecutive year – game time is TBA – against either No. 5 Georgia Southern or No. 4 James Madison. The victory was the fifth in a row and 13th over the last 14 games for Southern Miss. It also marked the 40th win of the season, increasing the Golden Eagles Division 1-best current streak to eight-straight years of 40 or more wins.
In a game that saw two rain delays, one of 2 hours, 48 minutes and the other 5 hours and 36 minutes, the contest finally resumed with one on and one-out in the bottom of the sixth. Josh Och was put into the game on the mound when it resumed. After giving up a single to begin his outing, Oct retired 10 of the next 11 batters before allowing a double and a hit batter in the eighth.
With two outs, Colby Allen entered the game and got Banks Tolley, who drove in four runs for the Mountaineers, to ground out to third to end the threat. Allen then stranded the bases loaded in the ninth with a strikeout to end the game to earn his seventh save.
The Mountaineers had jumped out to an early advantage with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fist. Austin St. Laurent singled to open the frame and went to third on a double by Drew Holderbach. The first run then came courtesy of a Tolley RBI groundout before CJ Boyd knocked in the second run with a double.
Southern Miss took its first lead with three runs in the top half of the second. After Nick Monistere was hit by a pitch, Matthew Russo and Seth Smith both walked. Monistere then scored on a wild pitch before Russo came in on ground ball double play by Gabe Broadus.
A three-run homer by Tolley in the bottom of the second helped the Mountaineers regain the lead, but that was short lived as the Golden Eagles exploded for five runs in the fifth.
Broadus, Dalton McIntyre, and Ozzie Pratt all singled to open the frame and load the bases. App State then went to the bullpen and Slade Wilks greeted the new pitcher with a two-run double in the left field gap on his first pitch. The hit extended Wilks' hitting streak to 31 games. Davis Gillespie then followed with a hard grounder off the pitcher that ricocheted to the first baseman for the first out, but Pratt scored on the play. Monistere then followed with a majestic two-run home run to 7-5 advantage with his 10 round-tripper of the year.
ASU reliever Everette Harris gave up two runs on two hits and with a walk over 2/3 of an inning to suffer the loss to fall to 0-2. App State (33-21-1) was eliminated from the event.
The game can be seen via ESPN+ as well as heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network and the audio only through SouthernMiss.com.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Flowers, Ben Riley (2-1)
L: Harris, Everette (0-2)
S: Allen, Colby (7)

Batting:
2B: Wilks, Slade 1 ; Gillespie, Davis 2
HR: Monistere, Nick 1
RBI: Wilks, Slade 2 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Monistere, Nick 2
Base Running:
RUNS: McIntyre, Dalton 1 ; Pratt, Ozzie 1 ; Wilks, Slade 1 ; Monistere, Nick 2 ; Russo, Matthew 1 ; Broadus, Gabe 1
HBP: Monistere, Nick 1

Batting:
2B: St. Laurent, Austin 2 ; Holderbach, Drew 1 ; Boyd, CJ 1
HR: Tolley, Banks 1
RBI: Tolley, Banks 4 ; Boyd, CJ 1
Base Running:
RUNS: St. Laurent, Austin 2 ; Holderbach, Drew 2 ; Tolley, Banks 1
HBP: Holderbach, Drew 1 ; Church, Braxton 1
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
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