Southern Miss has certainly cooled off since having its 15-game win streak snapped last week. With a 4-3 loss to Old Dominion, the Golden Eagles have dropped back-to-back weekend series for the first time this season.
A lack of timely hitting plagues Southern Miss as the Golden Eagles had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. With runners at first and third with one out, USM hit into a double play to end the game.
Since the end of the 15-game win streak, the Golden Eagles are now 2-4 in their recent six-game stretch. In the last six games, Southern Miss has gone 12-for-54 with runners in scoring position, which comes to a .222 average. In that span, starting left fielder Reece Ewing has missed every game due to a broken hand.
At the end of the game, a double play with bases loaded killed USM's chance to take a big lead early on. Old Dominion's starting pitcher Nick Pantos loaded the bases to start his outing in the first inning, but Christopher Sargent hit a doubleheader. A run managed to score, but USM hit into a groundout to end the inning.
"We just are not playing like we need to play, obviously," Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. "(Reece) Ewing's absence is really crucial.
"The double play haunted us again today. It hurt us in the first inning. We had (Pantos) on the ropes, and he escaped with one run. That's a time where you can really set the tone for this game, and we missed on that."
ODU managed to tie the game at 1-1 in the second inning after catcher Rodrigo Montenegro attempted to tag a runner out heading from the third base to home, but the home plate umpire ruled that Montenegro missed the tag.
Southern Miss retook the lead at 3-1 in the fourth inning, with Slade Wilks hitting a 2-run home run. The Monarchs regained control with a 3-run inning in the fifth, all of which came with two outs. Starting pitcher Hunter Riggins gave up back-to-back singles, which ODU capitalized on with a 2-run RBI double and an RBI single.
In six innings, Riggins allowed four runs off eight hits and struck out three batters without giving up a walk. Notably, Dalton Rogers stepped in relief for Riggins as he struck out a career-high of eight batters in three innings.
"Right now, Old Dominion is a better team than us if you want to know the truth," Berry said. "They are swinging the bat better than us. They are playing defense better than us. Their pitchers are stepping up. Our guys are throwing well, but if you put on good offense and good defense, then you have what we've been experiencing for a long time. It's hard for me to believe that record isn't better for their team."
Southern Miss' lineup left four of its eight runners on base after the fifth inning. Pantos lasted 4.1 innings before being relieved by Jacob Gomez. Gomez kept USM in check as he struck out six batters, walked two and gave up just one hit in 4.2 innings.
"He was filling (the zone) up, but we didn't make adjustments," Wilks said. "(Gomez) was a good pitcher, don't get me wrong, but it's definitely a guy that we can hit and should hit, I believe.
"We have been in a lot of situations where it just seems like we can't get the big hits. It's not like nobody is up there, not trying. We hit a lot of balls that were hard, but that's no excuse. Their guy was throwing strikes, but we just didn't make an adjustment, and it seems like when we did, we hit it right at them."
Sunday's first pitch is set for 11 a.m. as the Golden Eagles look to avoid being swept.
"Certainly, the 15-game win streak put us on a real high," Berry said. "You knew you were going to lose one at some point.
"On back-to-back weekends, we haven't played well enough to win a series. You have to figure it out. I'm going to call on our leadership within the team. I've been complimenting them the whole year. Now is the challenge, as it is with us as the coaches, but it's also the challenge internally."
