Wednesday, May 21
Montgomery, Ala. (Riverwalk Stadium)
12:30 pm
Southern Miss
42-13
9
vs
1
Texas State
27-30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Texas State
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
5
0
Southern Miss
2
1
0
2
2
1
0
1
X
9
14
0
Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com
Baseball Earns Record-Breaking Win in Sun Belt Tourney 9-1 Win over Texas State
5/21/2025 6:36:00 PM | Baseball
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Southern Miss opened the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Riverwalk Stadium Wednesday afternoon with a record-breaking victory, defeating Texas State 9-1.
The Golden Eagles (42-13) captured a school-record 16 consecutive victory as they opened with a win in the Sun Belt for the third-straight time. It also marked the school's 16th opening game league tournament victory over their last 20 as they improved to 28-14 all-time in conference openers.
Jake Cook and Ozzie Pratt led the Golden Eagle attack with three RBI each.
Ben Higdon paced the 14-hit attack with three singles, while Cook, Pratt, Nick Monistere, Joey Urban and Tucker Stockman added two hits apiece.
The Golden Eagles, which scored in six of eight innings, opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly by Carson Paetow and an RBI single by Urban in the first.
Cook knocked in his first run with a fielder's choice in the third and then added a two-run homer to right, his second of the year, to make the score 5-0.
Pratt followed with a two-run fifth-inning single and an RBI one-base hit in the sixth before Matthew Russo's sacrifice fly in the eighth concluded the Golden Eagles' scoring.
JB Middleton improved to 10-1 by limiting the Bobcats (27-30) to a run on five hits over seven innings with a walk and 10 strikeouts. Kros Sivley retired all six batters with one strikeout over the final two
frames.
The Bobcats managed to get to Middleton only once in the sixth. Rashawn Galloway capped a three-hit inning with an RBI single for the visitors' lone run.
Texas State starter Jesus Tovar (3-7) suffered the loss after allowing three runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout.
The Golden Eagles advance into Thursday's winners bracket and will play Old Dominion at 4 p.m. The Monarchs advanced by beating Troy 4-2 earlier in the day.
The Golden Eagles (42-13) captured a school-record 16 consecutive victory as they opened with a win in the Sun Belt for the third-straight time. It also marked the school's 16th opening game league tournament victory over their last 20 as they improved to 28-14 all-time in conference openers.
Jake Cook and Ozzie Pratt led the Golden Eagle attack with three RBI each.
Ben Higdon paced the 14-hit attack with three singles, while Cook, Pratt, Nick Monistere, Joey Urban and Tucker Stockman added two hits apiece.
The Golden Eagles, which scored in six of eight innings, opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly by Carson Paetow and an RBI single by Urban in the first.
Cook knocked in his first run with a fielder's choice in the third and then added a two-run homer to right, his second of the year, to make the score 5-0.
Pratt followed with a two-run fifth-inning single and an RBI one-base hit in the sixth before Matthew Russo's sacrifice fly in the eighth concluded the Golden Eagles' scoring.
JB Middleton improved to 10-1 by limiting the Bobcats (27-30) to a run on five hits over seven innings with a walk and 10 strikeouts. Kros Sivley retired all six batters with one strikeout over the final two
frames.
The Bobcats managed to get to Middleton only once in the sixth. Rashawn Galloway capped a three-hit inning with an RBI single for the visitors' lone run.
Texas State starter Jesus Tovar (3-7) suffered the loss after allowing three runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout.
The Golden Eagles advance into Thursday's winners bracket and will play Old Dominion at 4 p.m. The Monarchs advanced by beating Troy 4-2 earlier in the day.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Middleton, JB (10-1)
L: Tovar, Jesus (3-7)
Batting:
2B: Mora, Chase 1
RBI: Galloway, Rashawn 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mora, Chase 1
HBP: Munguia, Austin 1
Batting:
2B: Stockman, Tucker 1
HR: Cook, Jake 1
RBI: Cook, Jake 3 ; Russo, Matthew 1 ; Paetow, Carson 1 ; Urban, Joey 1 ; Pratt, Ozzie 3
SH: Pratt, Ozzie 1
SF: Russo, Matthew 1 ; Paetow, Carson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cook, Jake 2 ; Monistere, Nick 1 ; Higdon, Ben 1 ; Barrett, Drey 2 ; Stockman, Tucker 2 ; Smith, Seth 1
SB: Pratt, Ozzie 1
HBP: Cook, Jake 1 ; Russo, Matthew 2 ; Pratt, Ozzie 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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RHP
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OF
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INF
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INF
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LHP
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