Nick Monistere had accomplished plenty of things in his young baseball career – except a walk-off hit.
That finally changed on Wednesday night, as Southern Miss’ second baseman continued to stay red-hot after hitting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Golden Eagles a 5-4 win over Southeastern Louisiana.
“That’s the first walk off my whole entire life,” Monistere said. “Running around third and seeing all my brothers surround home plate, that was freaking awesome.
“I’ve had some game-tying or go-ahead and stuff like that but I’ve never walked a game off before. It felt really good. (Matthew) Russo does it three times a year, I feel like.”
Monistere’s home run comes just a week after he hit a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the ninth that helped defeat the Lions.
“He’s Superman now; I mean heck, he’s Superman to everybody right now,” said junior reliever Colby Allen, who earned the win. “It’s pretty impressive that he is hitting the ball like he is, and it’s pretty impressive that his attitude has stayed the same.”
Monistere is now on an eight-game hitting streak that has featured him going 13-for-30 at the plate with 20 RBI and eight home runs.
“It’s unbelievable,” Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. “What he is doing is not easy to do. It’s a hard game. To get those kind of swings off in those kind of moments, not everybody can do that.”
Southeastern (31-10) took the lead in the third inning, but the Golden Eagles got in front 2-1 after Carson Paetow hit an RBI single and then scored on a throwing error.
Later in the seventh inning, the Lions put up a 3-run from an RBI single followed by a two-run homer. However, the Golden Eagles got a run back in the bottom of the frame after Jake Cook drove in a run with an infield RBI single. Then in the eighth inning, Southern Miss (28-13) loaded the bases and capitalized on it with Davis Gillespie drawing an RBI walk with two outs to tie the game.
“That was a team effort,” Monistere said. “I think it goes unnoticed that Davis had a big double in the two innings before. Then (Matthew Russo and Carson Paetow) had two big walks and a big sac bunt from Seth Smith to get us within one that goes unnoticed.
“I found a barrel when I was supposed to. I put a good swing on it. I was just happy it went over the fence.”
On the mound, Southern Miss used nine different pitchers, which was highlighted by a clean three innings by Camren Sunstrom before Allen later closed the game.
“That’s a good offense that our pitching staff competed with,” Allen said. “We competed tonight, and I think that’s the big that we had been missing as a pitching staff. I’d rather us get hit a little bit than have a bunch of walks.
“I’ve been through a rough patch. I kept punching and punching and not get down on myself. I know my stuff is there. It just takes time to get out of that hole.”
In two innings of work, Allen retired the first five batters he faced with his only mistake being a two-out walk, which helped set up Monistere’s dramatic final hit.
“It feels good, but I’m glad I could do it for my team,” Monistere said. “We needed a big win. Coming through right there, I really hope it propels into this weekend.”
Southern Miss will travel to Boone, N.C. to take on Appalachian State for its weekend series. Friday’s first pitch is set for 5 p.m. CST.
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