Southern Miss upsets Ole Miss
|Jack Duggan, Assistant Athletic Director/Media Relations
Oxford, Miss. - No. 18 Southern Miss broke open a deadlock game with three runs in the eighth en route to a 5-1 non-conference baseball victory over No. 8 Ole Miss Wednesday evening at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
The win for the Golden Eagles (26-7) was the third in a row over the Rebels in Oxford and the 10th in the last 12 games in the series. It also marked the fourth consecutive win for the Golden Eagles.
Tim Lynch, Hunter Slater and Michael Gilbert each tied their career hit totals for a game as the Golden Eagles collected 12 in the contest. Lynch led the way with four singles, while Slater added three and Gilbert tallied two doubles in the affair. It also marked the 15th time in the last 17 games that Southern Miss achieved double-digit hits.
With the score tied at 1-1 in the seventh, Lynch led off the frame with a single. After a fielder’s choice to erase Lynch at second, Slater singled. Gilbert then doubled to left-center to give the Golden Eagles the lead as pinch runner J.C. Keys scored just ahead of the throw.
Chuckie Robinson then earned an intentional walk to load the bases and Storme Cooper knocked in a runs with a single before Nick Dawson completed the scoring with a sacrifice fly to leftfield.
Southern Miss added a solo run in the ninth as Slater knocked in his second run with a single.
The game remained scoreless for the first five frames, before the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 advantage. Jake Sandlin, who collected two hits in the contest, led off the frame with a double to right-center. Tim Lynch followed with a single to right to put runners at the corners.
After a flyout by Chase Scott, Slater singled to left-center to knock home Sandlin.
The Rebels (25-8) tied the score in the seventh on a double by J.B. Woodman.
Cody Livingston, the fourth of five Golden Eagle pitchers, allowed a hit and fanned a batter getting a pair of outs to earn the victory and improve to 2-0. Freshman left-hander Stevie Powers put together a solid start not allowing a run over 4 1/3 innings, giving up four hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Nick Sandlin threw the final two innings for Southern Miss and allowed a hit and walk with two strikeouts as he tallied his sixth save of the year.
Matt Denny, the fourth of eight pitchers for Ole Miss, got tagged with the loss falling to 0-1 as he gave up a run on a hit and recorded a strikeout for his only out of the contest.
The Golden Eagles return to the road this weekend when they take on UAB in a C-USA series. Game times are 6:30 p.m., on Friday, 2 p.m., on Saturday and 1 p.m., Sunday.
