Baseball is a game that always finds a way to balance out.
For at least a 10th time this season Southern Miss had turned to reliever Colby Allen to preserve a lead, with the junior already having earned three victories and six saves this season.
However, with the Golden Eagles leading 3-2, Allen gave up a two-run homer that helped carry South Alabama to a 6-3 lead as well as even the series on Saturday night.
“Colby has done it over, over and over again,” Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. “They got to him. I think he would like to have that pitch back from the guy who hit the home run. He just didn’t get that fastball in enough, and he drove it out of the park. That was the deciding blow there since we didn’t scratch any more runs.”
For Allen, it was the second homer of the season that he allowed, with the previous occurring on opening day.
“If I could get to the seventh inning with the lead there was no doubt in my mind that Colby was the guy,” Ostrander said. “That’s what we have done so many times, and it’s worked out. But over the course of a season, it’s not always going to go your way.
“He’s human. They are going to get to you sometimes. They had a good approach and made it tough. Some times you have to give credit where credit is due.”
South Alabama (12-14, 2-6 SBC) struck first with an RBI double in the first inning, but in the bottom of the frame, Matthew Russo hit a two-run home run to give Southern Miss a 2-1 lead.
The Jaguars tied the game with a sac fly in the third, but Carson Paetow put the Golden Eagles back ahead with a solo home run. After Paetow’s big swing, Southern Miss’ lineup only reached base twice until the eighth inning.
After Allen gave up the 2-run homer in the seventh, he later allowed a two-out RBI double in the top of the eighth to extend South Alabama’s lead to 5-3.
Southern Miss (19-8, 6-2 SBC) loaded the bases with two outs but failed to come up with any runs. Drey Barrett hit a hard-hit ground ball that failed to get through to the outfield after South Alabama’s third baseman made a diving snag. The Jaguars then tacked on an extra run in the ninth inning to secure the win.
“He put a decent swing on it,” Ostrander said. “The third baseman had to lay out and make a great play. It’s just that close. If that ball is a foot or two further away from him then it’s a chance for it to be a tied game after that. That’s the way it goes.”
Sunday’s first pitch is set for 3 p.m.
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