(Photo by Joe Harper)
Game 1: Friday 3/16 Old Dominion 2 vs. Southern Miss 11
Ozzie Pratt hit a grand slam and JB Middleton fanned a career-high 10 over seven innings as Southern Miss opened Sun Belt Conference play Friday night with a 11-2 victory over Old Dominion at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
The Golden Eagles (13-5 overall, 1-0 Sun Belt) won for the fourth-straight game as they belted out double-digit hits for the third consecutive contest.
Pratt had two hits, including his sixth-inning grand slam that completed the Golden Eagles’ scoring in the contest. Jake Cook, who has 14 hits in his last 20 at bats for a five-game hitting streak, added three hits and a pair of runs, while Nick Monistere posted three hits, including a solo homer, with two RBI to round out the Southern Miss hit leaders.
Game 2 Saturday March 16 Old Dominion 4 vs. Southern Miss 11
Heavy thunderstorms in the Pine Belt delayed the first pitch until 8p.m. making for a late night in Hattiesburg. True freshman Drew Barrett collected a go-ahead, pinch-hit double to highlight an eight-run eighth as Southern Miss rallied for a 11-4 come-from-behind Sun Belt Conference baseball victory over Old Dominion late Saturday night at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
The Golden Eagles (14-5 overall, 2-0 Sun Belt) won for the fifth-straight time as the start of Saturday’s game was delayed six hours due to bad weather earlier in the day.
Southern Miss trailed 4-3 in the eighth whenJoey Urban and Tucker Stockman registered back-to-back one-out singles. Barrett then pinch hit and took a 2-1 Ben Moore pitch that hit off the left field wall that scored both Urban andTy Long, who pinch ran for Stockman. After a wild pitch moving Barrett to third, Jake Cook knocked in the runner with an infield single.
Game 3 Sunday March 16 Old Dominion 4 vs. Southern Miss 1
The Golden Eagles (14-6 overall, 2-1 Sun Belt) saw a five-game winning streak snapped as the Monarchs (5-12,1-2) scored solo runs in four different innings.
ODU pitcher Blake Morgan kept the Golden Eagles off-balanced for much of his outing as he retired the first six and 15 of the first 18 batters he faced. His only trouble came in the third as he gave up back-to-back singles by Drey Barrett and Jake Cook but then got out Ozzie Pratt to end the threat.
Barrett provided the Golden Eagles’ lone run with a solo homer off Morgan to open the eighth for his second of the season. That ended Morgan’s day, who fanned six and did not walk anyone to get the victory and improve to 2-1.
Southern Miss starter Grayden Harris allowed two runs on five hits over four innings with no walks and five strikeouts to suffer the loss and fall to 2-1.
Southern Miss returns to action Tuesday when they travel to Pearl to face Ole Miss at Trustmark Park. Game time is set for 6 p.m., and the Golden Eagles are the designated home team for that contest.
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