HATTIESBURG – The 2018 season didn’t start as planned for junior Southern Miss pitcher J.C. Keys. Tabbed as the Sunday start through the first two weeks of the season, Keys pitched six innings in two games with a 0-1 record.
In a win over Mississippi State, he allowed just two earned runs on one hit with a strikeout and two walks. He was chased in the third inning when the Bulldogs tied the game up 2-2. In his next outing, he gave up seven runs – five earned – on six hits with a pair of strikeouts and walks.
But, things have changed for Keys. He has put together three straight solid outings out of the bullpen for Southern Miss, which includes a 3.1-inning performance while earning his first win of the season Saturday against UTSA.
The Golden Eagles swept a two-game doubleheader with a 4-3 win Saturday night to take the series over the Roadrunners. Game 3 is set for 10 a.m. Sunday morning.
“Solid performance covering 3.1,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “Obviously, J.C. really covered those innings and it was just what we need him to do coming out of the ’pen to get to the back end.”
Keys pitched three innings of one-hit ball in relief two weeks ago against Alabama, then a two-strikeout perfect inning last weekend against Georgia Southern. On Saturday he inherited a runner on second base in the fifth inning but recorded a strikeout to end the frame.
He ended the night with one earned run allowed on two hits with three strikeouts and a walk in the 3.1 innings of work. It was his first official win of the season, too.
“It felt good to go out there and have a little fun with my teammates,” Keys said.
Keys entered the game after senior Keller Bradford pitched 1.1 innings. Bradford took over for the game’s starter Stevie Powers, who took himself out of the contest with an oblique issue. Powers pitched the first 3.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits.
“It’s the next man up,” Keys said of his mindset when he entered the game. “Stevie went down, then we had Keller Bradford go out there and get a couple of outs for us. He handed the ball to me and I trusted my teammates, filled up the zone and got some ground balls to them.”
Keys allowed his lone run of the contest in the sixth inning, which put UTSA up 3-0 at the time, but he only allowed one baserunner to reach in the next two frames.
“They scored that run, and I left that fastball right down the middle,” Keys said. “The next batter, I had to go get him and attack the zone.”
While his first two outings of the season were starts, he’s become a weapon out of the bullpen for Southern Miss in recent weeks.
“I’ve felt really confident in these last three outings that I’ve had,” he said. “Just fastball command. If you can command the fastball, you’re going to be really successful.”
Keys earned the win because the Golden Eagles’ offense found their stride in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings with four runs to take a 4-3 lead.
Gabe Montenegro scored USM’s first run in the sixth off a wild pitch, then Matthew Guidry came home off a Bryant Bowen fielder’s choice a couple of at-bats later. Guidry picked up an RBI single in the seventh to tie the game, then pinch runner Fred Franklin scored the go-ahead run when LeeMarcus Boyd hit a ball to the shortstop, who threw the ball away, in the eighth inning.
Matt Wallner closed the door on the mound in the top of the ninth.
