HATTIESBURG – Unlike in the two games last weekend, starting pitching was not an issue Friday.
On the backs of Walker Powell and Stevie Powers, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles swept a doubleheader with Holy Cross Friday with 4-1 and 5-3 wins. The two combined for 12 strong innings, two earned runs, 12 strikeouts and only one walk.
“One covering seven innings and one covering five, so both were very effective,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said.
Southern Miss needed quality starts from its pitchers, too, because the offense totaled 17 hits but left 16 runners on the base paths.
“Offensively, we’re scratching and still trying to score runs,” Berry said. “We’ve played 12 games and we’ve only produced the big inning, I think, five innings out of those 12 games. Everything has been a lot of solo runs, so it’s a lot of pressure on the pitching staff to really throw those zeros up, but they did it again today.”
Walker Powell got the doubleheader started with a strong pitching performance. He went seven innings of three-hit ball while allowing just one earned run. He also struck out seven with only one walk.
The 6-foot-7 junior pitched four straight 1-2-3 innings before allowing his first base runner. In the fifth inning, he gave up a one-out walk to Alex Gionis, who later came around to score on Holy Cross’ second hit of the inning. Powell pitched another clean inning in the sixth before he gave up the third hit in the seventh.
Friday marked the second straight start Powell has pitched at least seven innings, too. His start last Sunday was ruled a no contest, but it was looking promising for him.
After dealing with a back issue last weekend, Powers only made one mistake Friday. The only run the senior gave up came on a fourth-inning home run, but the Crusaders did record a hit in all but the first inning while Powers was on the mound.
Powers allowed just one earned run on four hits to go along with his five strikeouts. More importantly, he didn’t walk a batter. He only threw 64 total pitches, though, but Berry wanted to take it easy on his senior after leaving last week’s game in the first inning.
“We’re just not trying to push him,” Berry said. “We open conference next weekend, and honestly, I’m excited that he was able to get back on the mound after we had to scratch there in the first inning last week. Obviously, it’s nothing serious, but we have to keep him in that routine.”
Getting going
Junior Matthew Guidry and redshirt freshman Will McGillis have been two of four starters with batting averages in the .100s, but on Friday the two showed signs of coming out of the early season slump.
McGillis went 2-for-3 in Game 1 of the doubleheader with a solo home run, while Guidry followed that up with two hits of his own and homer in the second game. Both have had their fair share of strikeouts, which Berry wants to see cleaned up, but also they’ve had hard-hit balls smacked right at defenders.
On McGillis’ homer, it cleared the scoreboard over the left-center field wall.
“(McGillis has) put some good swings on it, but I’d like to see him cut the strikeouts down,” Berry said. “He’s got power, there’s no doubt about it. He’s still learning.”
Guidry has been a part of some really good offenses during his time as a Golden Eagle, but he’s experiencing something this season that none of the other Southern Miss teams he’s played on have experienced.
“Sometimes I feel like this offense just gets a little complacent,” Guidry said. “Since I’ve been here, that’s never really been the case. It’s just something that needs to be handled. I’m sure our leadership will take care of that.
“It has nothing to do with the past or anything. It’s a new season, so it’s always a new roster. Honestly, if I knew what it was right here right now, I could tell you and we’d probably fix it and we wouldn’t be dealing with this. We’ll get back to the lab, come out here tomorrow and try to do it all again. Get better every day.”
