MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The last time Southern Miss faced Old Dominion, the Golden Eagles struggled against the Monarch’s left-handed pitcher Blake Morgan.
Morgan was again kryptonite for USM as he pitched seven innings and had only one earned run in Southern Miss’ loss to the Monarchs in mid-March.
Two months later, the Golden Eagles had no problems against Morgan as they run-ruled Old Dominion 10-0 in seven innings in the Sun Belt tournament to advance to the semifinals at Riverwalk Stadium on Thursday.
This time, Morgan had no answers for Southern Miss’ lineup as the Golden Eagles homered three times in the win, putting them one away from tying the school record of 95 home runs in a season.
“I just think they went up there and determined and stayed with the plan and made it tough for him,” Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. “I think this lineup is a different lineup than it was 11 weeks ago when he faced him. It’s a tough lineup to get through.”
PRATT’S BIG SWING
But heading into the matchup against Old Dominion, the mindset for Southern Miss’ lineup was simple – he beat you once, but he won’t be you twice. For Golden Eagle shortstop Ozzie Pratt, that approach proved to be both metaphorical and literal.
Pratt singled in his first at-bat, but the second time, he had a frustrating ground out before he launched a homer later in the game.
“He beat us once, but that wasn’t going to happen again,” Pratt said. “It was go out there (thinking) every pitch matter. Just attack everything.
“But I looked like an idiot my first at-bat. He had a bunch of sliders, so I was sitting for a slider for the most part. He threw me a bunch of them, so it was just not letting him beat you twice.”
Matthew Russo kicked start the offense after he drove in a run from a fielder’s choice in the first inning. Jake Cook hit a three-run homer to build a 4-0 lead in the second. Later in the fifth inning, Joey Urban led off with a solo home run that was followed by a two-run blast from Pratt.
Every run matters. It’s hard to score runs in D1 baseball. It’s hard to win. If you can go out there and pile it on them every inning and score every inning, then you are going to win the game.
Southern Miss (43-13) closed out the game in the bottom of the seventh, featuring Russo hitting a two-run single with Paetow hitting a game-ending RBI single.
In five innings of work, Morgan surrendered five earned runs off 10 hits and walked four batters.
“He’s a good arm,” Ostrander said. “You have to have discipline and layoff pitches that are just outside of the zone and try to drive the pitch count up. I thought our guys did a great job of that, but also capitalized on when he made a mistake. We got good barrels on some pitches.”
FULL CIRCLE MOMENT FOR ADAMS
Southern Miss’ starting pitcher Matt Adams missed last year’s Sun Belt tournament due to a shoulder injury. After a long wait, Adams delivered a complete game shutout.
“It’s a testament to how good the Lord is bringing me back from that injury and that tough rehab,” Adams said. “This whole season has been a blessing. I couldn’t be happier to go out there to throw a complete, not for me but for my team to save our pitching for the rest of the tournament.”
The right-hander struck out seven batters while giving up four hits and four walks in 98 pitches of work. Fittingly enough, his injury occurred on the road against Old Dominion back in 2023.
“I didn’t even think about that, but that is a funny little tidbit,” Adams said. “It’s just special all around. I’m enjoying going out there. My days as a Golden Eagles are numbered. I’ve got this postseason, and that’s it, so I’m just going out there and enjoying each one.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Golden Eagles will now enjoy a day off after extending their winning streak to 17 games.
“It’s just keep the momentum going,” Ostrander said. “We are going to enjoy this one. Get back and enjoy our reps tomorrow. We’ll get ready for our next opponent with whoever that is. We’ll respect that and try to play the best game that we can.”
Southern Miss will wait to play the winner of Troy and Old Dominion on Saturday at 9 a.m.
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