An unlikely group of heroes helped Southern Miss grind out an extra-innings win.
The late heroics first began with Braden Luke in the seventh inning as Southern Miss held on to a 4-3 lead. Luke stepped in to pinch hit and smoked a 3-run home run that flew over the Pete Taylor Park scoreboard.
It was one of the many key performances that came off the bench to help the Golden Eagles outlast South Alabama in 12 innings to clinch the series in an 8-7 win on Sunday.
The moment was an example of how the program preaches the idea that the starting nine will not always be the final nine.
“We say it constantly to stay ready,” Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. “Everybody wants to be in the starting lineup, and everybody wants to be on the mound.
“Braden Luke is a great testament. He was ready for his moment… If you get sour about it, then you are probably not going to be ready for your moment.”
Luke, who had one of the hottest bats in Southern Miss’ 2024 postseason run, entered the game 0-for-6 on the season.
“We all just kind of stay ready for situations like that,” Luke said. “You come in there in a tight ball game, and sometimes you have to perform.
“It’s everybody’s dream to get in there and perform in the biggest moments like that and in the pressure moments. You just have to stay ready. All of us who haven’t had as much playing time, work every day just like everybody else. When we get our time, we just have to shine with it.”
South Alabama (12-15, 2-7 Sun Belt) later tied the game in the top of the ninth to force extra innings, which forced the Golden Eagles to turn to some of its unproven arms in the bullpen.
After having struggled earlier in the week, Michael Flower threw his best outing of the season as he struck out four batters and did not give up a hit.
Following Fowler was true freshman Ty Long after he had allowed five runs and six hits in his last two combined appearances. Long retired South Alabama’s lineup in order to set up the game-winner in the bottom of the 12th inning.
“A lot of our wins are team wins,” Long said. “You don’t just have one guy that’s do everything. We have offense. We have defense, and we have pitching, and it all works together. We have a lot of chemistry (that’s) why we all work well together. The trust that everybody instills in each other, the confidence, words of encouragement, and hard talks you have to have with each other. This team trusts each other so much on a deep level that in games like this, there is no doubt that we are going to pull out.”
Ben Higdon, who was 0-for-12, led the bottom of the 12th inning off with a single. Southern Miss then loaded the bases, which Davis Gillespie capitalized on by hitting an RBI sac fly to score Higdon and walk off the game.
“I wasn’t trying to do too much,” Gillespie said. “I was just trying to get a ball elevated.
“It fired me up (to see) countless guys getting at-bats that maybe haven’t been getting as much (playing time) and especially the pitchers too coming in and closing the door, which ultimately led to the win… It’s awesome to see the guys get in there and do their job.”
Southern Miss will host Tulane on Tuesday, with first pitch set for 6 p.m.
“I don’t know if we played our best baseball this week,” Ostrander said. “The week before, we played pretty good. Consistency is a huge factor. When you play 56 of these, you are going to have some ups and downs.
“You are going to have some really good moments and some you have to learn from. The biggest thing is just winning the series. It was a hard-earned fight.”
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