
Baseball Opens ULM Series with an 8-5 Friday Night Victory
3/21/2025 11:03:00 PM | Baseball
The Golden Eagles (16-6 overall, 3-1 Sun Belt) won for the seventh time over the last eight games as they banged out a season-high tying 18 hits.
Paetow, who was a double shy of the cycle, scored three times and drove in a pair of runs as six Golden Eagles recorded multiple hits.
Davis Gillespie opened the scoring with a run-scoring double of Cook in the first. Cook started the contest with an infield single, giving him a nine-game hitting, as he finished with his second career four-hit game.
After ULM tied the score in the bottom of the first on an RBI single from Henry Garcia, Southern Miss took the lead for good on a Ben Higdon RBI groundout in the second, scoring Paetow from third. Paetow opened the inning with a triple to deep center field.
Southern Miss added two more runs in the fifth on back-to-back run-scoring singles from Paetow and Tucker Stockman.
That lead was then extended to 5-1 in the seventh on Paetow's team-leading seventh home run of the year.
The Warhawks (9-12, 1-3) cut the gap to 5-4 in the bottom half of the frame, taking advantage of five Golden Eagle walks from four different pitchers including the first one from starter JB Middleton.
Despite the walk and a single to start the seventh, Middleton went six-plus innings, allowing three runs on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts to earn the victory and improve to 4-1.
Colby Allen entered the game with one out in the inning and the bases loaded. After inheriting a 2-0 count, Allen walked the first and then second hitters to account for the final two runs allowed in the inning before fanning out the final two batters to get out of the jam.
Southern Miss increased its lead again in the eighth with a pair of runs. Pinch hitter Joey Urban opened the inning with a double and scored two batters later on a Cook single. Cook then scored on a balk to account for the other run. Southern Miss added its final run in the ninth on a wild pitch.
ULM plated its final run on a wild pitch in the eighth. The final run reached on a fielding error and went to third on a single and ground out before scoring on the wild pitch.
Allen threw the final 2 2/3 innings to earn his sixth save of the year. He gave up an unearned run on a hit with four strikeouts to register his 13th career save, tying him with Garrett Ramsey and Tony Phillips for ninth all-time in school history.
Joining Paetow and Cook in multiple hits were Gillespie, Stockman, Urban and Seth Smith with two hits each.
ULM starter Landon Grigg (0-5) allowed four runs on 10 hits with a walk and five strikeouts to suffer loss over 5 1/3 innings.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 2 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Middleton, JB (4-1)
L: Grigg, Landon (0-5)
S: Allen, Colby (6)

Batting:
2B: Cook, Jake 1 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Urban, Joey 1
3B: Paetow, Carson 1
HR: Paetow, Carson 1
RBI: Cook, Jake 1 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Paetow, Carson 2 ; Stockman, Tucker 1 ; Higdon, Ben 1
SH: Pratt, Ozzie 1 ; Stockman, Tucker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cook, Jake 2 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Russo, Matthew 1 ; Paetow, Carson 3 ; Urban, Joey 1
SB: Monistere, Nick 1
PO: Smith, Seth 1

Batting:
RBI: Walker, Isaiah 1 ; Blaser, Bryce 1 ; Garcia, Jr, Henry 1 ; Clark, Jack 1
SH: Blaser, Bryce 1 ; Dupont, Kade 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Walker, Isaiah 1 ; Artzberger, Michelle 1 ; Haggard, Jake 2 ; Lindwedel, Tony 1
SB: Walker, Isaiah 1
CS: Garcia, Jr, Henry 1