It wasn’t the prettiest win on Wednesday night, but in front of the fourth-largest crowd in Pete Taylor Park history, Southern Miss managed to hold on for a 3-2 victory over Alabama.
It was certainly a needed bounce-back win for the Golden Eagles after getting swept by Dallas Baptist on the road this past weekend.
“It was a disappointing weekend,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “We played a very good program over at Dallas Baptist. Dallas Baptist is the best club of the weekend series that we have played thus far.
“I’m really proud of how our guys showed up. We are determined to grind this thing out, and that’s exactly what they did. Nobody gave anybody anything in this one. Everybody earned it.”
LYNCH'S HOMER
Momentum was not on Southern Miss’ side to start the game, with Alabama’s Zane Denton hitting a solo home run to left center with two outs that gave the Crimson Tide (12-6) a 1-0 lead.
However, in the second inning, and in a timely fashion, Danny Lynch came up with his first home run of the season that gave the Golden Eagles life as he sent the ball over the right field fence and tied that game at 1-1.
“I think after this weekend’s struggles, we kind of really needed to get going early,” Lynch said. “ I thought (the home run) was big.
“The first five pitches were all fastballs, and they were kind of not in the zone. The two that he threw were right in the corner, so I just took them. We knew that in plus counts he wasn’t’ great at landing on that off-speed pitch so he was going to have to come with the fastball.”
Then in the fourth inning, Will McGillis came up with a go-ahead, two-run double with two outs, which was aided by a baserunning effort by Slade Wilks, who beat the tag at home plate.
“Will is awesome,” Lynch said. “We always talk about how two-out RBIs are backbreakers. The pitcher thinks that they are about to get out of the inning, and it’s a big spot. Will goes with a double, and Slade did a great job. That was huge from Will and a big at-bat.”
CLEAN DEFENSE
Entering the game, Southern Miss (11-6) had struggled defensively as USM posted .967 fielding percentage, which was ranked 141 out of 293 schools. But the clean defense played a difference, with shortstop Dustin Dickerson coming up with several big plays along with two double plays.
Southern Miss’ first double play came in the second inning, just before Lynch’s home run, which Berry called the critical play of the night.
The second double play came in the fourth after Stuart induced a ground to out to come up with outs at first and second to end the inning.
JOHNNY WHOLESTAFF
Southern Miss used seven pitchers, including Drew Boyd, Stuart, Isaiah Rhodes, Chandler Best, Landon Harper, Dalton Rogers, and Garrett Ramsey that held the Crimson Tide to nine hits, two earned runs, and recorded records nine strikeouts while giving up one walk.
Ramsey earned the save while Stuart picked up his second win of the season.
“All of those guys played major roles in what we were able to do,” Berry said. “From one to the other with Best covering two innings. I thought Ramsey, with his clean inning in the ninth, that was spectacular in what he did. Tyler Stuart came in and gave us what he is supposed to. Dalton comes in and gets the big K when we needed it in the first and third situation.”
Alabama’s only other run of the night came in the eighth inning after a run scored on a fielder’s choice that narrowed the game to 3-2.
By comparison, Southern Miss’ lineup struck out 13 times despite putting up eight hits, yet Berry gave credit to Alabama’s pitching staff.
“Sometimes you have to give credit,” Berry said. “You look at every arm that ran out there. It was low to mid-90s for both clubs. There were never those kinds of arms three years ago. You are just seeing them day in and day out now. Hitters have to learn to adjust to that. We didn’t do what we needed to do at times. But it wasn’t that we didn’t continue to compete, and that was the biggest thing.”
NEW WEEKEND ROTATION?
For the first time this season, Southern Miss did not start Tanner Hall on the mound during the midweek. The sophomore right-hander recently struck out a combined 21 batters against Mississippi State and Tulane in the last two midweek games.
While Berry wouldn’t give specifics on the upcoming weekend rotation against upcoming weekend opponent Florida Atlantic, he did say that there will be changes.
“No Tanner Hall tonight,” Berry said. “You’ll probably see a different face in (the rotation).”
Southern Miss opens conference play against FAU this weekend. Friday’s first pitch against the Owls is set for 6 p.m.
