The Christian Ostrander era opened with a win as Southern Miss defeated Marist 4-1 in front of the largest opening-day crowd in Pete Taylor Park history.
“It’s a lot of emotions, and I’m very thankful,” Ostrander said. “It’s not easy to win baseball games. It doesn’t matter who you are playing.
“We know this place loves baseball, and it’s our job to go out there and put on a good show.”
Helping set up the win were Golden Eagle pitchers Niko Mazza and Colby Allen, who combined for 13 strikeouts.
However, in front of the crowd of 5,272, Mazza’s belt suddenly snapped in the second inning, leading him to scramble and wear Matthew Adam’s belt for the rest of the night.
“I just got that belt for the first game,” Mazza laughed. “It was brand new and more stylish, and then it just busted.”
In spite of the wardrobe malfunction, the Friday starter delivered 5.1 clean innings, struck out eight batters and gave up four hits.
“I felt really good,” Mazza said. “Marist has a good lineup. They are a veteran group. They have tough hitters to face. Lawson (Odom) did a great job in his first game behind the plate. It was awesome of me to give Coach (Ostrander) his first win. That’s something that meant a lot to me. But I was just trying to fill up the (strike zone) and get ahead.”
BYU transfer Ozzie Pratt put Southern Miss on the board in the first inning. With the aid of some hard-blowing wind, Pratt hit a ball over the centerfielder’s head, who failed to come down with an over-the-shoulder grab. Instead, Pratt recorded a two-run triple with two outs.
“It was awesome,” said Pratt on getting his first hit as a Golden Eagle. “The fans hyped everyone up. The nerves weren’t really there. The head went blank. I didn’t even know that I had hit it. When I got to third, it was unreal.
“I was seeing the spin on the slider. It was already 3-1. I just kind of threw my bat at it, and luckily it landed.”
Carson Paetow tacked on a run in the second with an RBI sac fly to push the lead to 3-0. Later in the fourth inning, Paetow hit a high fly ball into left field’s no man’s land, which allowed the right fielder to come up with an RBI double. Notably, Nick Monistere was hit three different times by a pitch
Despite Southern Miss’ early lead, the Golden Eagles’ lineup produced just two hits, with Marist’s pitchers hitting five batters and walking four.
“You have to be opportunistic,” Ostrander said. “I thought Ozzie getting that big hit early kind of ignited (us) a little bit and took some pressure off. You find ways to scratch a couple of more across. What stood out to me was us winning the freebie war. We had 13 strikeouts one walk, and one error. When you do that, you have a chance to win, and then I know the hits will come.”
Mazza fell into trouble in the sixth inning after he gave up a pair of hits, but his outing was salvaged by Colby Allen, who ended the inning unscathed.
The Red Foxes got on the board in the seventh after an error, and an infield hit set up a fielder’s choice RBI. But Allen held on to record a save and gave up three hits, walked one batter and struck out five to finish the game.
“Colby grew a lot,” Ostrander said. “We saw it this fall and in these last three weeks in scrimmages. If they beat him, they have to beat him swinging the bats. That’s what I anticipated him doing. To be able to save us some bullpen arms and stuff and use two guys tonight is huge.”
Saturday’s first pitch against Marist is set for 6 p.m.
“They have a good team over there,” Ostrander said. “Eight of their nine starters had experience. We have our work cut out for us.”
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