A weekend series sweep continues to elude Southern Miss.
Within the game's first 15 pitches, the Golden Eagles' hopes to sweep the series against Indiana State dwindled. The Sycamores quickly held a five-run lead that helped hand the Golden Eagles a 12-5 loss on Sunday.
“We had a chance to do something really special and put yourself in a position to get a sweep today, but we just didn’t get it done,” Southern Miss’ coach Christian Ostrander said. “My hats off to Indiana State because they are a good ball club. I told my team I knew that they would be dangerous today because their backs were against the wall. At some point, we’ll be able to push through and be able to win three games on a weekend.”
Southern Miss’ starting pitcher Will Armistead struggled against the Sycamores’ lineup from the start of the game. The right-hander surrendered a game-opening double and then an RBI single. After hitting a pair of batters, Armistead allowed a grand slam before striking out the next three batters he faced.
Armistead retired Indiana State (8-3) in order in the second and third but fell into more trouble in the fourth as he allowed a double, single and then an RBI single to lead the inning off. The Sycamores plated one more run after a runner tagged up and scored on a foul out.
In three innings, Arimstead allowed seven runs off hits, hit two batters and struck out four.
“(Armistead) just never got any rhythm,” Ostrander said. “It was kind of an ambush inning. With their backs against the walls, they get runners on and stuff. They are feeling good, and then their guy gets a ball out of the park. He never got any rhythm. That’s something we try to do with our starting pitchers, which is to get control of the box and mix and match.”
Southern Miss’ bullpen, which hadn’t allowed a run all weekend, didn’t fare much better as it combined to allow five runs off four hits along with giving up four walks.
Despite facing a major deficit, Southern Miss (8-4) responded with a three-run inning in the bottom of the frame. Billy Butler led the inning off with his first home run of the year. Nick Monistere then delivered an RBI single, followed by Tucker Stockman driving in a run with a sac fly, which cut the deficit to 8-3.
“Our arms are so good,” said Butler, who went 2-for-4. “When they put up five in the first, we are confident that we can score six and win the game with our arms. It’s a good feeling to play behind our arms. We are not losing any faith in them. It was one tough day for the guys. They have picked us up plenty of times before this year already.”
The Golden Eagles outhit Indiana State 25-22 over the series, with USM posting 10 in Sunday’s loss, but Southern Miss stranded 11 runners on base.
“I feel like we were all trying to do a little too much because of the lack of offense,” Butler said. “We know how good we are and how deep we are, but we are seeing things come together more. We have so much more in the tank.
“We can bang with anyone, but it’s a work in progress.”
In the sixth inning, the two teams traded solo home runs, with Monistere going yard for the Golden Eagles.
Southern Miss continued to chip away at the lead after Dalton McIntyre came up with an RBI single to narrow the score to 8-5. However, the momentum was short-lived as the Sycamores responded with a four-run frame to push the lead to 12-5.
“Baseball is a game of momentum, and they had it,” Ostrander said. “One of the hardest things to do is stop momentum. For the most part, we were able to do that a little bit, but we needed something special to put goose eggs up there and give us a chance to claw back.”
Southern Miss will travel to Pearl to battle in-state rival Mississippi State at Trustmark on Tuesday. First pitch is set for pitch 6 p.m.
Follow @AndrewAbadie on Twitter and Facebook for Southern Miss coverage.
