Friday, May 2
Pete Taylor Park
6 p.m.
Southern Miss
33-13, 16-6
2
vs
1
Arkansas State
23-22, 11-11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Arkansas State
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
0
Southern Miss
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
4
0
Matthew Russo’s Ninth-Inning Homer Lifts Southern Miss to 2-1 Win over A-State
5/2/2025 9:15:00 PM | Baseball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Matthew Russo belted a home run to start the bottom of the ninth to lead Southern Miss to a 2-1 Sun Belt Conference victory over Arkansas State Friday night at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
The Golden Eagles (33-13 overall, 16-6 Sun Belt) won for the seventh-straight time as they collected their fifth walk-off victory of the season and 33rd since the start of the 2017 campaign. It also gave Russo his second game-winning homer of 2025 – the other came March 8 with a solo shot against UNCW – and third game-winning long ball of his career.
Russo's blast marked the first runner to reach base for either team since the fourth inning when Southern Miss had a one-out walk by Drey Barrett. A-State's last batter to reach base in the contest was a two-out single by Jake Henry Williams.
Both teams provided great pitching as Golden Eagle starter JB Middleton allowed a run on five hits over seven innings with six strikeouts and no walks. He retired the last 10 batters he faced. The only blemish against the junior right-hander was a second inning leadoff homer by Patrick Engskov, which marked the first run of the contest and his eighth of the season.
Colby Allen (5-4) retired all six batters he faced, which included four strikeouts over the final two frames, earning the victory.
Gavin Galy threw four innings to open the game for A-State and allowed a run with a walk and a hit batter, while fanning four. His only run given up came in the third. After a Taylor Stockman double off the center field wall opened the frame, Ozzie Pratt singled to right to drive him home to tie the game.
Jack Nelson then came in for the Red Wolves (23-22, 11-11) and retired all 11 batter he faced which included six strikeouts. Jelle van der Lelie got the final out of the eighth, before giving up the game-winning homer to open the ninth and suffer the loss. He fell to 3-3.
For Russo, it was his 14th homer of the season.
Southern Miss got outhit 5-4 in the contest as Nick Monistere saw his current team-best 12-game hitting streak snapped.
The two teams return to action, Saturday, at 2 p.m.
The Golden Eagles (33-13 overall, 16-6 Sun Belt) won for the seventh-straight time as they collected their fifth walk-off victory of the season and 33rd since the start of the 2017 campaign. It also gave Russo his second game-winning homer of 2025 – the other came March 8 with a solo shot against UNCW – and third game-winning long ball of his career.
Russo's blast marked the first runner to reach base for either team since the fourth inning when Southern Miss had a one-out walk by Drey Barrett. A-State's last batter to reach base in the contest was a two-out single by Jake Henry Williams.
Both teams provided great pitching as Golden Eagle starter JB Middleton allowed a run on five hits over seven innings with six strikeouts and no walks. He retired the last 10 batters he faced. The only blemish against the junior right-hander was a second inning leadoff homer by Patrick Engskov, which marked the first run of the contest and his eighth of the season.
Colby Allen (5-4) retired all six batters he faced, which included four strikeouts over the final two frames, earning the victory.
Gavin Galy threw four innings to open the game for A-State and allowed a run with a walk and a hit batter, while fanning four. His only run given up came in the third. After a Taylor Stockman double off the center field wall opened the frame, Ozzie Pratt singled to right to drive him home to tie the game.
Jack Nelson then came in for the Red Wolves (23-22, 11-11) and retired all 11 batter he faced which included six strikeouts. Jelle van der Lelie got the final out of the eighth, before giving up the game-winning homer to open the ninth and suffer the loss. He fell to 3-3.
For Russo, it was his 14th homer of the season.
Southern Miss got outhit 5-4 in the contest as Nick Monistere saw his current team-best 12-game hitting streak snapped.
The two teams return to action, Saturday, at 2 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Allen, Colby (5-4)
L: van der Lelie, Jelle (3-3)
Batting:
HR: Engskov, Patrick 1
RBI: Engskov, Patrick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Engskov, Patrick 1
Batting:
2B: Stockman, Tucker 1
HR: Russo, Matthew 1
RBI: Russo, Matthew 1 ; Pratt, Ozzie 1
SH: Cook, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Russo, Matthew 1 ; Stockman, Tucker 1
HBP: Barrett, Drey 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
RHP
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INF
/ Baseball
RHP
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INF
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/ BaseballINF
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