University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Friday, March 14
Pete Taylor Park
6 p.m.
Southern Miss
13-5, 1-0
11
vs
2
Old Dominion
4-11, 0-1
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9
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Old Dominion
0
0
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0
1
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2
Southern Miss
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0
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X
11
12
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Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com
Baseball Opens Sun Belt Play with 11-2 Victory over Old Dominion Friday Night
3/14/2025 9:24:00 PM | Baseball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Ozzie Pratt hit a grand slam and JB Middleton fanned a career-high 10 over seven innings as Southern Miss opened Sun Belt Conference play Friday night with a 11-2 victory over Old Dominion at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
The Golden Eagles (13-5 overall, 1-0 Sun Belt) won for the fourth-straight game as they belted out double-digit hits for the third consecutive contest.
Pratt had two hits, including his sixth-inning grand slam that completed the Golden Eagles' scoring in the contest. Jake Cook, who has 14 hits in his last 20 at bats for a five-game hitting streak, added three hits and a pair of runs, while Nick Monistere posted three hits, including a solo homer, with two RBI to round out the Southern Miss hit leaders.
Middleton limited the Monarchs (4-11, 0-1) to two runs on six hits with his 10 punchouts. It was the second-straight game a Southern Miss pitcher registered 10 in a contest. The quality start for Middleton allowed him to record the victory and improve to 3-1.
His only blemishes were a solo homer to TJ Aiken, his third of the year in the fourth, and a run-scoring double to Zach Leite in the sixth.
Cook led off the bottom of the first with a double that banged off the right-center field wall and scored on a sacrifice fly by Davis Gillespie two batters later to give the Golden Eagles the early 1-0 advantage.
The home squad then added three more runs in the second. Monistere opened the inning with his fifth homer of the year. After a single by Carson Paetow and a groundout, Tucker Stockman sliced a ball to right before Drey Barrett's ground out scored the second run of the frame. Stockman then scored two batters later on an ODU error.
It was another ODU error to open the third to start another three-run inning for Southern Miss. After the error that allowed Gillespie to reach base, Matthew Russo was hit by a pitch. Monistere then singled home a run, before Joey Urban collected an RBI double and Stockman added a run-scoring ground out to make it 7-0.
The Golden Eagles then started the sixth with a double to right by Stockman. After a walk to Barrett and a bunt single by Cook to load the bases, Pratt lifted a 1-0 Cole Lanford pitch to the opposite field just over the left field wall to give the Golden Eagles their first grand slam since Russo hit one at Arkansas State on May 11, 2024. It was the third homer for Pratt.
ODU starter Ethan Hubble gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits over two innings to suffer the loss and fall to 0-1.
The two teams return to action at 7 p.m., Saturday. The game was moved back five hours due to expected bad weather in the area during the day.
The Golden Eagles (13-5 overall, 1-0 Sun Belt) won for the fourth-straight game as they belted out double-digit hits for the third consecutive contest.
Pratt had two hits, including his sixth-inning grand slam that completed the Golden Eagles' scoring in the contest. Jake Cook, who has 14 hits in his last 20 at bats for a five-game hitting streak, added three hits and a pair of runs, while Nick Monistere posted three hits, including a solo homer, with two RBI to round out the Southern Miss hit leaders.
Middleton limited the Monarchs (4-11, 0-1) to two runs on six hits with his 10 punchouts. It was the second-straight game a Southern Miss pitcher registered 10 in a contest. The quality start for Middleton allowed him to record the victory and improve to 3-1.
His only blemishes were a solo homer to TJ Aiken, his third of the year in the fourth, and a run-scoring double to Zach Leite in the sixth.
Cook led off the bottom of the first with a double that banged off the right-center field wall and scored on a sacrifice fly by Davis Gillespie two batters later to give the Golden Eagles the early 1-0 advantage.
The home squad then added three more runs in the second. Monistere opened the inning with his fifth homer of the year. After a single by Carson Paetow and a groundout, Tucker Stockman sliced a ball to right before Drey Barrett's ground out scored the second run of the frame. Stockman then scored two batters later on an ODU error.
It was another ODU error to open the third to start another three-run inning for Southern Miss. After the error that allowed Gillespie to reach base, Matthew Russo was hit by a pitch. Monistere then singled home a run, before Joey Urban collected an RBI double and Stockman added a run-scoring ground out to make it 7-0.
The Golden Eagles then started the sixth with a double to right by Stockman. After a walk to Barrett and a bunt single by Cook to load the bases, Pratt lifted a 1-0 Cole Lanford pitch to the opposite field just over the left field wall to give the Golden Eagles their first grand slam since Russo hit one at Arkansas State on May 11, 2024. It was the third homer for Pratt.
ODU starter Ethan Hubble gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits over two innings to suffer the loss and fall to 0-1.
The two teams return to action at 7 p.m., Saturday. The game was moved back five hours due to expected bad weather in the area during the day.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Middleton, JB (3-1)
L: Hubbell, Ethan (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Leite, Zach 1
HR: Aiken, TJ 1
RBI: Aiken, TJ 1 ; Leite, Zach 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Aiken, TJ 1 ; Edwards, Kyle 1
Batting:
2B: Cook, Jake 1 ; Urban, Joey 1 ; Stockman, Tucker 1
HR: Pratt, Ozzie 1 ; Monistere, Nick 1
RBI: Pratt, Ozzie 4 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Monistere, Nick 2 ; Urban, Joey 1 ; Stockman, Tucker 1 ; Barrett, Drey 1
SF: Gillespie, Davis 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cook, Jake 2 ; Pratt, Ozzie 1 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Russo, Matthew 1 ; Monistere, Nick 2 ; Paetow, Carson 1 ; Stockman, Tucker 2 ; Barrett, Drey 1
SB: Pratt, Ozzie 1
HBP: Russo, Matthew 1 ; Paetow, Carson 1 ; Stockman, Tucker 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
4
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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