MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Tanner Hall said he didn't forget about the first time he faced James Madison earlier in the season.
Just 40 days ago, the Dukes put up 12 hits, scored five runs, and had Hall exit the game, having thrown 110 pitches in 5 1/3 innings.
This time in the Sun Belt Conference tournament opener, Hall turned in a complete game that propelled the Golden Eagles to a 7-1 win over James Madison.
"That was definitely in my head before the game," Hall said. "I definitely wanted to go and outdo better than I did last time. I told myself that I was going to try a little harder and minimize each mistake I made.
"Once I started rolling and the defense was making plays behind me made it a lot easier for me to go out there and trust everything I was throwing, along with the offense turning up at the end of the game," Hall said."
After his second go-around against James Madison, Hall struck out nine batters, gave up three hits, did not allow a walk and threw 102 pitches, with 75 of those being strikes. JMU's lone run was unearned, with Hall retiring 17 of the last 18 batters he faced.
"If you break down his outing, of the 27 outs, seven of those were by him fielding his position either by comebackers to himself and throwing to Sargent or Sarge making a play and Tanner covering first," Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said.
MIDDLE INNING PRODUCTION
James Madison took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning after a passed ball and then a throwing error by Dustin Dickerson set up an RBI sac bunt for the Dukes.
Southern Miss (38-16) responded by scoring in the next four innings. Notably, every member of the Golden Eagles' lineup recorded a hit as the Dukes (31-24) went through six different pitchers.
"(The lineup was) really putting a lot of runs on the board," Hall said. "It made it easy to go out there and trust that I was going to get three outs whether it was the first three guys, first six guys, or whatever it was."
USM retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth after Nick Monistere belted his fourth home run of the season to give the Golden Eagles a 2-1 lead.
After Reece Ewing drove in a run on a fielder's choice in the fifth, he again drove in two more runs in the sixth on an RBI single. Christopher Sargent added another run with an RBI single.
Dickerson capped off the scoring in the seventh inning with an RBI single.
FACING TROY NEXT
The most important aspect of Hall's outing is that the Golden Eagles move into the winner's bracket without having to use their bullpen yet.
"Everybody is rested, and everybody is ready to go moving forward," Berry said. "It was a great workload by (Hall). It was an outstanding outing."
The Golden Eagles will now face Troy on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Trojans defeated Appalachian State 10-9 in 10 innings earlier in the day. In that game, Troy used four pitches.
Berry did not announce who would start on the mound against Troy.
"It's going to be a really good challenge," said Berry on facing Troy. "They were a good ball club when we played them over there at their place when we were able to take two out of the three. I think their win today obviously carries them and gives them momentum. They are trying really hard to build that resume for one of those considerations for an at-large bid. I think they are worthy of it and have shown it all year. It'll be a big challenge for us.
"It's not the opponent that dictates how we play. We have to be mature about it and go out and play like we are supposed to."
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