It was by no means the prettiest opening day for Southern Miss as the Golden Eagles came out with a 3-0 victory over Liberty.
With so much excitement for the Golden Eagles' lineup and question marks surrounding the bullpen after losing so much production from a season ago instead, Friday night's win looked similar to last year. USM's hitting struggled with leaving runners on base while the Golden Eagles' pitching staff held the Flames to a one-hitter.
"It's good to get that first win under our belt," Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. "Tonight, we were able to pull a win out in not a pretty win as far as the makeup of the game.
"We missed on a lot of opportunities offensively."
JOHNSON AND ETZEL HEAT UP
Matthew Etzel and Blake Johnson combined for five of the Golden Eagles' eight hits as well as drove in the first two runs of the game.
In the third inning, Liberty's starting pitcher Garrett Horn gave up a walk and hit a batter. Etzel, who was 2-for-5, capitalized with an RBI single through the right side. Then in the fifth inning, Etzel extended a single into a double, which later helped him score on a fielder's choice.
"Matt Etzel, I think, showcased what he is going to be about," Berry said. "He set up one inning with a single that he extended into a double. He's so quick out of the box. He's going to hit a lot of those. At the end of the day, it was his hustle that came out there and the way he plays that made it a great inning."
Then in the fourth, Johnson launched a solo home run with two outs to left center as it traveled 373 feet and had an exit speed of 102 mph. Johnson reached base in all four at-bats as he finished the game 3-for-3 and drew a walk.
"I went down 1-2, and I had swung at a bad pitch," Johnson said. "After that, I took a deep breath. I got another fastball up in the zone, and I got on top of it, I guess. They told me it hit the top of the fence, but I'll take it. You only have to hit it as far as the fence is.
"The guys who hit in front of me told me what was going on. It was a lot of guys throwing fastballs up. That was a big thing with getting some word from those guys in front of me and giving me an idea of what he is working with."
RUNNERS ON BASE
The Golden Eagles had several chances to break the game open and go up big on the Flames. On three different occasions, USM had bases loaded but only came up with one run as Christopher Sargent drove in a run on a fielder's choice in the fifth inning that pushed the lead to 3-0.
In total, Southern Miss left 13 runners on base and struck out 16 times.
The heart of the lineup, which included Sargent, Carson Paetow, Slade Wilks, and Danny Lynch combined for 12 of those 16 strikeouts.
"It wasn't pretty at all," Berry said. "We are going to have to improve on that. Certainly, that's the meat and potatoes of your order and that the guys who are supposed to produce and they will. It was the first time out, and I think you have to give hats off to their pitchers too. I know a lot of people do the same with ours.
"Our pitch selection at the plate will have to improve. There are 27 outs, so you have to make those quality outs. You are going to make outs in a game, but they have to be quality ones."
ONE-HITTER
Southern Miss starting pitcher Tanner Hall had a rocky start after walking the first batter of the season – an act he only did 14 times last season.
"You can't think about it too much," Hall said. "You have to flush it. In the moment, I knew what I was doing. I was squeezing the ball a little bit and letting my body get out of whack. You have to make those adjustments in the game because you don't have much time out there. I ended up doing that, and it worked out, but I wish I could have that (at-bat) back."
Hall settled in as he had a no-hitter broken up in the fifth inning by an infield single. In five complete innings, Hall threw 72 pitches, struck out five batters, walked two and allowed the one hit.
Relievers Tyler Martin and Justin Storm combined for five strikeouts, with Storm recording the first save of his career. Yet Martin's three innings of relief proved to be the most crucial as he pitched three clean innings in 35 pitches.
Southern Miss will attempt to clinch the series on Saturday, with first pitch set for 4 p.m.
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