KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The last time Niko Mazza threw 120 pitches in a game, he was disqualified for exceeding a high school pitch count limit.
This time his 120 pitches kept Southern Miss' season alive. Mazza delivered the first complete game of his career, which carried the Golden Eagles to a 6-0 win over Northern Kentucky to avoid elimination from the Knoxville Regional on Saturday.
Entering the ninth inning, Mazza was well over 100 pitches, but there was almost no deliberation if Mazza should go back out to finish the game.
"I didn't know if I was going to give him a choice to take me out or not," Mazza said. "I knew that if I go out there again that's one more pitcher that they can throw tomorrow and the next day. I was just thinking that I could save some more pitching tomorrow."
Mazza's previous longest outing was seven innings, which is a feat he had only reached three times. It's also the first complete game shutout since 2022, when Hunter Riggins threw one against Louisiana.
"Not at all," said Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander when asked if he would take Mazza out. "I knew I didn't have to ask. He wanted the baseball, and if we didn't feel like he was built to do that or if he was compromised, we wouldn't have done that. We have a relationship, and we trust each other.
"He did a good job of spreading those pitches out through the nine innings."
Mazza's biggest jam came in the fifth inning after he allowed a leadoff walk and then a single. Northern Kentucky then laid down a sac bunt to put runners in scoring position, but the right-hander induced back-to-back flyouts.
"I threw a lot of sliders and a lot of fastballs," Mazza said. "I tried to get my fastball into a lot of hitters, and I think that's why I got a lot of ground balls. In the first inning, my slider wasn't real good, but I found it later in the second inning."
From the fifth inning to the end of the game, Mazza retired the next 15 batters he faced.
"You tip your cap," said NKU's Treyvin, who was one of two players to register a hit for the Norse. "He dealt straight up. That's the bottom line. It is what it is. We wish it went our way, but tip your cap because he was shoving all day. He was hitting spots, keeping us off balance, and keeping us guessing. He did a great job."
Mazza struck out three batters, walked two, and gave up just two hits while still pumping 94 mph by the game's end.
"Coach Oz always preaches early contact, and that's how you get deep into ball games," Mazza said. "I was trying to get ahead of hitters, and weak contact all day is what allowed me to go deep into the game."
One of the game's biggest highlights was Nick Monistere's acrobatic catch in the second inning.
The Southern Miss second baseman ran down a shallow fly ball after noticing right fielder Slade Wilks had slipped and fallen down. Minister managed to track the ball and made an over-the-shoulder sliding catch.
"I saw it off the bat and immediately turned around because I knew the wind was pushing in, so I didn't know if it was going to be on me or not," Monistere said. "I looked at Slade to see if he was coming in, and he was on the ground, so I just started hauling tail to try and get under the ball.
"I was just trying to make a play for Niko. He was pitching his tail off."
Instead of surrendering a hit, Mazza quickly retired Northern Kentucky (35-24) in order.
"I thought it was an unbelievable play," Mazza said. "Once I saw Slade slip, I thought it was going to be a bloop single. It was Willie Mays style that was awesome."
Two innings later, Davis Gillespie put Southern Miss (42-19) on the board with a two-run homer that registered 104 mph off the bat and traveled 406 feet. Monistere maintained his heroics in the sixth inning after he drove a ball down the left field line to come up with an RBI double. On the next at-bat, Braden Luke delivered a two-run single.
Mazza's outing predominantly keeps Southern Miss' pitching staff intact with the only relief pitcher being used so far Kros Sivley.
"We have got three games left if we want to win this thing," Monistere said. "Only using two pitchers yesterday. Kros was big yesterday, and then only using (Mazza) today will be huge for our bullpen going forward.
"(Mazza) was electric today. He stepped up big, and we needed it."
Southern Miss will play Indiana tomorrow at 11 CDT. If the Golden Eagles win the first game on Sunday then they will play again the same day at 5 p.m. CDT.
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