Baseball Falls to Troy 9-6 Saturday Evening in Sun Belt Conference Championship

Saturday, May 23

Montgomery, Ala. (DABOS Park)

12:30 pm

Southern Miss

42-15

Troy

32-28

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Troy	0	0	3	0	0	2	3	1	0	9	13	0
Southern Miss	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	4	6	10	0

Kyle Morrison returns to the dugout after a successful outing

Baseball Falls to Troy 9-6 Saturday Evening in Sun Belt Conference Championship

5/23/2026 9:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – For the second-straight night, top-seeded and eighth-ranked Southern Miss rallied in the ninth but fell a little short on this evening, dropping a 9-6 decision to fourth-seeded Troy Saturday at DABOS Park.

The two teams will meet again on Sunday at 9 a.m., with the winner set to play in the league's championship game against the winner of the Saturday night's Louisiana-Texas State bracket championship affair. The contest will start no earlier than 1 p.m. later in the day.

The Golden Eagles (42-15) had an 11-game winning streak snapped in the process. Southern Miss, plagued by inclement weather here all week, saw the game delayed almost two hours at the start of the bottom of the seventh due to lightning and rain.

Down 9-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Troy (32-28) got the first two Golden Eagles out before they started their second ninth-inning rally. Tucker Stockman, who had two hits in the contest, opened things with a single.

Pinch hitter Gray Eubanks then walked before Seth Smith singled to load the bases. Joey Urban then tripled to right center, clearing the bases, and then scored on a Kyle Morrison single. Southern Miss then looked to add on to its four-run ninth, but Davis Gillespie fanned to end the game.

For the second consecutive game, the Trojans jumped out to an early advantage, scoring three times in the third. They put together four hits off Golden Eagle starter Camden Sunstrom. After a leadoff single by Houston Markham, and a double by Aaron Piasecki, Josh Pyne reached on a fielder's choice as Markham was caught off third only to scramble back to the base to load things for the Trojans.

Blake Cavill then hit a chopper over Matthew Russo's head into right to drive in the first run, before the Trojans added and infield RBI single from Jimmy Janicki and then completed the scoring on a run-scoring fielder's choice by Drew Nelson.

The Golden Eagles cut the gap with a run of their own in the fourth. Russo singled down the third-base line and Ben Higdon collected a two-out single, before Stockman knocked in Russo with a single to right center.

Troy added to their lead with a two-run homer in the sixth for Pyne off reliever Thomas Crabtree, his eighth, to make the score 5-1. Southern Miss cut into that lead in the bottom of the frame with a solo run coming as Higdon plated Gillespie with a sacrifice fly. Gillespie reached on a leadoff double.

The designated visitors, though, quickly added to its lead again in the seventh. After a single to go along with a walk and a hit by pitch, Aaron Piasecki tripled down the line to clear the bases and give Troy an 8-2 advantage.

Sean Darnell was responsible for the Trojans final run in the eight as he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Sunstrom (6-4) suffered the loss as he allowed four runs on eight hits over five innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Trojan starter Zach Crotchfelt (5-2) limited the Golden Eagles to a run on five hits over five innings with a walk and eight strikeouts to garner the win.