The lack of consistent offensive production continues to plague Southern Miss’ lineup.
The Golden Eagles mustered just five hits and stranded 11 runners on base in a 3-1 loss to Missouri State.
“I don’t think we competed very good at the plate today,” Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. “It showed. Anybody that was here saw that.
“If you get guys on, you have to push them across. You have to move them around those bags, and we didn’t do it. It’s been a little bit of a characteristic that we have to improve upon. I take full responsibility for that.”
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
Through seven games, the Golden Eagles are now stranding an average of 9.4 runners on base.
In Saturday’s loss, Southern Miss stranded runners on base in six of the nine innings, with 10 occurring in the first six innings.
“Runs were at a premium,” Ostrander said. “When you have a chance, you need to push them across somehow. We have done that some this year, but we need to do more. If we are not going to get up there and drive gap after gap, then we have to manufacture.”
Southern Miss scratched its only run of the game in the second inning, which was a sac fly by Lawson Odom that gave the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Missouri State (4-2) answered right back in the third inning with a two-out RBI single.
Soon after, USM’s starting pitcher Billy Oldham exited early after the Bears drove his pitch count to 90 through four innings. Oldham struck out five batters, walked four and allowed one run off four hits.
“They made (Oldham) earn it and got a lot of pitch counts up on him,” Ostrander said. “He stayed in there and minimized good. He made pitches when he needed to. Sometimes you get the call, and sometimes you don’t. I’m proud of him for gutting that out and getting us to that fifth inning.”
In the fifth inning, reliever Ben Riley Flowers allowed the first hitters to reach base, which set up Colby Allen walking in a run to give Missouri State the lead. In the sixth, the Bears’ Zach Stewart homered for a second time in the series to make the score 3-1.
ENGLISH’S INJURY
During the top of the seventh inning, a hard foul ball was hit into the Southern Miss’ dugout, hitting freshman reliever McCarty English in the head.
Ostrander could not provide any update yet on English, but the game resumed after a brief pause.
“I’m hoping he is okay,” Ostrander said. “That’s kind of a part of baseball, unfortunately. Hopefully he is okay. We are praying for him.”
English recorded his first save on Friday and has recorded 3.2 innings of work, struck out three batters and walked two.
FUTURE LINEUP
The Golden Eagles have yet to insert Rhode Island transfer Billy Butler, who held a .326 batting average in 87 games at his previous school.
Butler took reps in left field over the fall but moved to right field this spring.
“It’s tough sometimes because you want to be able to put guys in, but you also want to play your best defense,” said Ostrander when asked if Butler would get an opportunity. “We are still figuring it out. I challenged them and said you guys who haven’t had your opportunity, be ready for tomorrow. We have to see what they can do, so hopefully, we can get some sparks.”
Sunday’s rubber match is set for 1 p.m.
Follow @AndrewAbadie on Twitter and Facebook for Southern Miss coverage.
