Baseball Falls in Opener in Hattiesburg

Friday, May 5

Hattiesburg, Miss.

7:00 PM

Florida Atlantic

29-14-1, 15-7

No. 20 Southern Miss

35-12, 17-5

Florida Atlantic

Southern Miss

5/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 5, 2017

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss scored six in the second and four more in the eighth to bookend an 11-2 win over the Florida Atlantic University baseball team in the series opener between the two squads Friday night at Pete Taylor Park.

The Turning Point

After a 1-2-3 first, the Golden Eagles (35-12, 17-5 Conference USA) rebounded in the second, including six straight batters reaching, five with hits. They added another run in the fourth for a 7-0 lead.

The Finish

The Owls (29-14-1, 15-7 C-USA) got both their runs on the same play in the top of the eighth. They loaded the bases with no one out as Kevin Abraham was hit by a pitch, Jordan Poore walked and Tyler Frank singled. Two batters later, David Miranda grounded into a fielder's choice to score Abraham, and an error on the play brought Poore in to make it 7-2. But USM got out of the inning with no further damage and added on with four more runs of their own in the bottom to seal the win.

Notables

Frank and Austin Langham each had two hits, and both had a double; Frank reached a third time when he was hit by a pitch
Sean Labsan pitched two innings of scoreless relief, allowing just one hit and striking out a batter

Quotable

"(Tonight was a) tough night, we have got to better tomorrow in all facets of the game," said Head Coach John McCormack. "You can't give a good team like them too many opportunities. We look forward to tomorrow's challenge."

What's Next

Game two of the three-game set in Hattiesburg begins at 3 p.m. EST Saturday. Blake Sanderson will take the ball for the Owls against Kirk McCarty of USM.