Southern Miss’ hitters had no shortage of opportunities against Marist.
The Golden Eagles drew nine walks but stranded 12 runners on base in a 6-3 loss on Sunday to the Red Foxes.
“We have to come through and get those big hits when the runners are on,” Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. “If you mix in a few of them today, then it’s a different game. Baseball is hard, but at some point, you have to take ownership of it.
Eight of the runners stranded on base came in the final three innings. Tthe Golden Eagle offense posted just four hits by the end of the game
Yet from the start Southern Miss (2-1) had to play from behind, with the Golden Eagles trailing Marst 4-1 by the third inning. Starting pitcher Kros Sivley struggled facing the Red Fox lineup, which put up 11 hits.
Marist (1-2) quickly drove in a pair of runs in the first inning with a triple and fielder’s choice. The Golden Eagles did manage to answer with Carson Paetow hitting a leadoff triple, followed by Broadus driving him in with a fielder’s choice RBI. But Sivley gave up a two-run RBI single in the third to extend Marist’s lead.
“I really think we had plenty of opportunities to be in this game and have a chance to win this game, but we just didn’t capitalize,” Ostrander said. “Early on, they struck and put four runs on the board in the first three innings, but I felt like we stabilized that a little bit on the mound. We never could get anything offensively. I tip my hat to those guys. They outplayed us today in all areas.
Sivley exited after he faced runners at the corners with two outs, but reliever Drew Druckenmiller ended the inning with one pitch. Despite Sivley’s ugly start, which saw him allow four runs off seven hits, the Golden Eagle pitching staff racked up 13 strikeouts and walked only one batter.
“I think (Marist’s) approach was really good,” Ostrander said. “I felt like their right-handed hitters were staying inside of the ball and using the backside, which is what they need to do against him. The thing that really stood out to me with their hitters was that they weren’t really worried about hitting it over their heads. They were fine hitting that single up the middle or on the backside. They singled you to do death and then had a big hit mixed in there. I’m not going to say Kros had his best day, but I give a lot of credit to them for making it hard on them.”
In the fifth inning, catcher Tucker Stockman put USM back on the board as he belted a leadoff home over the left field wall, which was the first hit of his career to cut Southern Miss’ deficit to 4-2.
However, between the sixth and seventh innings, the two teams traded runs as each side recorded an RBI single to make the score 5-3.
Momentum failed to favor Southern Miss, with stranded runners stacking up late in the game. In the ninth, Marist added an insurance run after an infield error, and a stolen base set up a run to score off a wild pitch by reliever JB Middleton.
“At some point, you have to simplify the game a little bit and slow it down in their minds,” Ostrander said. “I knew there would be some growing pains with so many new guys, but we aren’t making excuses. Every game matters.”
Southern Miss will host Air Force on Monday night, with Will Armistead being named as the starter on the mound. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
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