Southern Miss rallied all weekend, and it was fitting that it needed another one to win the series against a gritty Troy ball club.
The No. 12 Golden Eagles didn’t panic.
Not when they fell behind by four runs early. Not after dropping Friday night’s opener. And not in a tense, back-and-forth finish against a Troy team that looked every bit like a Sun Belt contender, despite its record.
Tucker Stockman delivered a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, and Camden Clark shut the door over the final 2 1/3 innings as Southern Miss rallied for a 5-4 win Sunday afternoon to clinch the series over the Trojans.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander said. “They’re really good. They’ve got a really good offense. But just proud of our guys, winning the series the hard way when you drop a Friday night game.”
Southern Miss (19-5, 3-3 Sun Belt) won its eighth of the last nine meetings with Troy (10-13, 3-3) and secured its first conference series victory of the season.
The bullpen delivers once again
Southern Miss hasn’t had many answers for its dilemma with starting pitching. It was another shaky start from the bump for McCarty English, who went 2.0 innings and gave up four earned runs with just one strikeout.
Steven Meier led off with a double, and Aaron Piasecki singled to put Troy up 1-0 in the top of the first inning. After two scoreless innings for Southern Miss, Meier led off the third inning with a double, Josh Pyne singled and Piasecki took a pitch to the back to load the bases with no outs.
Southern Miss went to Camden Sunstrom on the bump, who gave up a hit to Blake Cavill to score two before forcing a groundout that scored another to put Troy ahead 4-0 in the top of the third inning.
But from then on, it was lights out from the Southern Miss bullpen.
Sunstrom covered 4.0 innings, allowing no runs with two strikeouts.
JW Armistead came in and put runners on the corners with two outs before Southern Miss brought in Camden Clark in the seventh inning.
Clark didn’t expect to be in the game that early — Southern Miss hadn’t extended him much — but he finished the game with 2.1 innings, allowing one hit with four strikeouts and no walks.
“I think that was the plan,” Clark said. “I didn’t think it would be in the seventh inning, but he said it was in play. The idea was that I was going to do what Colby did Friday.”
Clark was a starter at the junior college level, so there wasn’t much adjustment necessary for the extension.
“Cam Clark was just brilliant,” Ostrander said. “He threw 30 pitches and 25 for strikes. That’s very impressive.”
Clark used his changeup more than usual and got Trojan batters to swing over the top of it.
“They are all gearing up for the heater. They know they have to cheat to it a little bit,” Ostrander said. “When he starts landing that changeup, it’s very evident to us that we’ve got control of that box.”
Clark said the changeup is the best pitch he has.
“That’s probably my best pitch by far,” Clark said. “It’s something that has progressively gotten better throughout the season, so we are starting to lean on it a bit more.”
Camden Clark over his 12 appearances this season:
14.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 17 K, 4 BB, 1 XBH
0.00 ERA
0.63 WHIP
10.7 K/9
Absolute nails from the pen.
The 31 hits for Troy this weekend was the most Southern Miss has given up in a weekend series all season, but in the times that mattered, Southern Miss’ bullpen delivered.
While Golden Eagles needed and got exceptional work from the bullpen, Troy did not. Troy gave up 10 earned runs from its bullpen compared to Southern Miss’ just four earned runs from its bullpen all weekend.
Southern Miss bats grind back
Davis Gillespie got the Golden Eagles on the board with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third, his sixth of the season.
That swing cut the deficit in half and gave Southern Miss life.
From there, the Golden Eagles stayed within striking distance before breaking through in the sixth and taking the lead in the seventh.
In that decisive seventh inning, Matthew Russo opened the frame with a walk and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. After a flyout, Gray Eubanks singled to left, and Stockman followed with a deep fly ball to right that allowed Russo to tag and score the go-ahead run.
The approach at the plate switched from Friday to Sunday. Realizing all he needed to do was get a ball to the outfield to score the run, Stockman did just that.
Eubanks is also starting to give Southern Miss an answer at the DH spot in the lineup.
Eubanks went 3-for-4 and reached base multiple times in key spots. He had a double in the sixth inning that helped turn the tide of the game.
Seth Smith followed with an RBI single to score Eubanks, and after a pinch-hit infield single by Ben Higdon, back-to-back walks by Joey Urban and Kyle Morrison forced in the tying run.
Eubanks went 4-for-8 over the weekend and was robbed of another hit in Saturday’s game.
“It’s awesome to see, man. He’s a good hitter. We’re not surprised by any means,” Ostrander said. “There’s some maturity there… I think there’s a bright future for that young man.”
For Eubanks, the recent success is a product of simplifying his approach.
“I’m seeing it really well right now,” he said. “I’m looking for a certain pitch and in a certain spot, and when I see it, I try to put a good swing on it.”
Eubanks said coming into the fall was a huge adjustment, not even seeing a sinker before. He pointed to the Southern Miss arms he faced in the fall as a reason for his development entering the spring.
After dropping the opener Friday and struggling at times offensively in recent weeks, the Golden Eagles showed resilience, timely hitting and continued dominance on the mound.
Now, the focus quickly shifts forward.
“We’ll enjoy this today, but then get ready for Tuesday night,” Ostrander said.
Southern Miss returns to action Tuesday when it travels to Starkville to face No. 6 Mississippi State at 6 p.m.
