University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Saturday, April 25
Mobile, Ala.
1 pm
Southern Miss
31-12, 31-12
16
at
7
South Alabama
25-18, 10-10
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Miss | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 16 | 2 |
| South Alabama | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 1 |
Ten-Run Third Lifts Southern Miss over South Alabama 16-7 Saturday
4/25/2026 6:06:00 PM | Baseball
MOBILE, Ala. – Southern Miss rode a 10-run third inning, its highest scoring stanza in two seasons, to defeat South Alabama 16-7 Saturday afternoon at Eddie Stanky Field in capturing a Sun Belt Conference series.
The Golden Eagles (31-12 overall, 13-7 Sun Belt) collected a season-high run and hit totals, and the 10-run inning was the most by the program since scoring 10 versus ULM on April 19, 2024. Southern Miss also won for the sixth-straight game as they scored their most runs since posting 17 on June 1, 2025, against Miami in the NCAA Hattiesburg Regional.
Southern Miss banged out 16 hits, including a season-best four home runs of which two keyed the big third inning.
Down 5-3 heading into the third, Southern Miss saw their first nine batters reach base and eventually scored en route to the double-digit scoring frame. Ben Higdon started the scoring with a two-run single, before Tucker Stockman added a three-run home to dead center, collecting his sixth of the year.
Kyle Morrison added an RBI on a fly ball to short left field that was misplayed, before Matthew Russo blasted a grand slam to right center for his eighth of the campaign. It was the team's fourth grand slam as a squad this season.
Leading 13-5, the Golden Eagles added two more runs in the sixth on a run-scoring double play from Stockman as well as a home run by Lawson Odom, who belted his first homer of the year and first long ball in his last 100 at bats.
Russo tied his career best for RBI by knocking in his fifth run in the ninth on a ground out, scoring Morrison, who doubled earlier.
USA (25-18, 10-10) added solo runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Stewart Puckett and a solo homer by Blake Guerin, his 14th, in the ninth.
The Golden Eagles jumped out with three runs in the opening inning of Jaguar starter Ryland Bozenhard. Seth Smith singled to right on the first pitch of the game. After an out and walk to Morrison, Davis Gillespie hit a 382-foot opposite field home run for his 12th of the year to give the visitors a 3-0 advantage.
USA, though, responded with four in the bottom of the first off starter Camden Clark. After a leadoff double and a walk, Stewart Puckett knocked in the first run with a single. The Jaguars reloaded the bases before Marc Stephens cleared them with a double to left to give USA a 4-3 lead.
The Jaguars added another run in the second on an RBI double from Guerin, off reliever Kros Sivley, but the left-hander then got a strikeout and an infield flyout to end the frame.
Sivley, who made his 95th career appearance to tie him for third on the school's career appearance chart, gave up just one more hit, another double to Guerin, as he retired 11 of the 13 batters, to record the win and improve to 4-2.
Bozenhard (2-2) allowed seven runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts over two innings to suffer the loss.
The final game of the series is set for 1 p.m., Sunday, as Southern Miss goes after its second consecutive league sweep.
The Golden Eagles (31-12 overall, 13-7 Sun Belt) collected a season-high run and hit totals, and the 10-run inning was the most by the program since scoring 10 versus ULM on April 19, 2024. Southern Miss also won for the sixth-straight game as they scored their most runs since posting 17 on June 1, 2025, against Miami in the NCAA Hattiesburg Regional.
Southern Miss banged out 16 hits, including a season-best four home runs of which two keyed the big third inning.
Down 5-3 heading into the third, Southern Miss saw their first nine batters reach base and eventually scored en route to the double-digit scoring frame. Ben Higdon started the scoring with a two-run single, before Tucker Stockman added a three-run home to dead center, collecting his sixth of the year.
Kyle Morrison added an RBI on a fly ball to short left field that was misplayed, before Matthew Russo blasted a grand slam to right center for his eighth of the campaign. It was the team's fourth grand slam as a squad this season.
Leading 13-5, the Golden Eagles added two more runs in the sixth on a run-scoring double play from Stockman as well as a home run by Lawson Odom, who belted his first homer of the year and first long ball in his last 100 at bats.
Russo tied his career best for RBI by knocking in his fifth run in the ninth on a ground out, scoring Morrison, who doubled earlier.
USA (25-18, 10-10) added solo runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Stewart Puckett and a solo homer by Blake Guerin, his 14th, in the ninth.
The Golden Eagles jumped out with three runs in the opening inning of Jaguar starter Ryland Bozenhard. Seth Smith singled to right on the first pitch of the game. After an out and walk to Morrison, Davis Gillespie hit a 382-foot opposite field home run for his 12th of the year to give the visitors a 3-0 advantage.
USA, though, responded with four in the bottom of the first off starter Camden Clark. After a leadoff double and a walk, Stewart Puckett knocked in the first run with a single. The Jaguars reloaded the bases before Marc Stephens cleared them with a double to left to give USA a 4-3 lead.
The Jaguars added another run in the second on an RBI double from Guerin, off reliever Kros Sivley, but the left-hander then got a strikeout and an infield flyout to end the frame.
Sivley, who made his 95th career appearance to tie him for third on the school's career appearance chart, gave up just one more hit, another double to Guerin, as he retired 11 of the 13 batters, to record the win and improve to 4-2.
Bozenhard (2-2) allowed seven runs on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts over two innings to suffer the loss.
The final game of the series is set for 1 p.m., Sunday, as Southern Miss goes after its second consecutive league sweep.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sivley, Kros (4-2)
L: Bozenhard, Ryland (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Morrison, Kyle 1
HR: Russo, Matthew 1 ; Odom, Lawson 1 ; Gillespie, Davis 1 ; Stockman, Tucker 1
RBI: Higdon, Ben 2 ; Russo, Matthew 5 ; Odom, Lawson 1 ; Gillespie, Davis 3 ; Stockman, Tucker 3 ; Morrison, Kyle 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Urban, Joey 1 ; Long, Ty 1 ; Higdon, Ben 1 ; Russo, Matthew 2 ; Odom, Lawson 2 ; Barrett, Drey 2 ; Gillespie, Davis 2 ; Smith, Seth 2 ; Stockman, Tucker 1 ; Morrison, Kyle 2
SB: Smith, Seth 1
HBP: Russo, Matthew 1
Batting:
2B: Stephens, Marc 1 ; Wright, Brennon 1 ; Guerin, Blake 2
HR: Guerin, Blake 1
RBI: Stephens, Marc 3 ; Puckett, Stewart 2 ; Guerin, Blake 2
SF: Puckett, Stewart 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Puckett, Stewart 1 ; Young, Mike 1 ; Mathews, Duncan 2 ; Wright, Brennon 1 ; Richardson, Nick 1 ; Guerin, Blake 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
5
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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OF
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INF
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LHP
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INF
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