Slade Wilks watched his home run ball sail over the right center wall. The junior flipped his bat with authority after his ball traveled 428 feet to give Southern Miss a 9-7 lead.
Wilks crossed the plate and ran to celebrate with his team in the dugout, but pinch runner Bryce Fowler and Dustin Dickerson, who was intentionally walked just before Wilks' at-bat, went from exchanging words to getting into a shoving match with Georgia Southern's catcher Kyler Hultgren.
It was the climax to a weekend series that saw every game decided within the final two innings, with the Golden Eagles winning the first game of Saturday's doubleheader 9-8 but falling short 10-8 in the second game. After the shoving and dugouts started to spill onto home plate, umpires initially ejected Hultgren and then Wilks, who was in the dugout. By rule, if an ejection is issued, then a player is required to serve a one-game possession.
"I hit the homer, and I never said anything to their dugout or anything," Wilks said. "I came around and touched home. I was in the dugout when the whole scram started, or whatever that was. I'm being told I was thrown out, and I'm just like, I didn't look at y'all, but it is what it is."
However, the event was reviewed by the officials, and instead, Fowler was issued the ejection for shoving the catcher back. It was a decision Wilks did not expect as he had changed into his street clothes between games.
"I had my clothes off," Wilks said. "This series was very back and forth. They are a very good ball club. It was a war on both sides. We had a few more swings in the series than they did, but it was a really good series from both teams."
Leading up to the eighth inning, Southern Miss took a 6-2 lead, which included a 4-run inning in the third, which included a 2-run homer by Dickerson. Yet, Georgia Southern chipped away scoring by scoring a run in the fifth and then scoring two runs in both the seventh and eighth inning.
For Tate Parker, who played briefly in the first game, the weekend series reminded him of his junior college days with JUCO ball being known to have intense games, especially during doubleheaders.
"Me and a few guys were kind of making jokes about it how with all of the junior college guys how we're used to days like this," Parker said.
Although Southern Miss fell 10-8 in the second game, Parker went 4-for-5 after injuring his oblique muscle. Parker put Southern Miss on the board in the second inning with a solo homer, with Matthew Etzel late hitting an RBI single to push the lead to 2-0.
"I actually tore my oblique at the end of Game 1 in left field and played through it in Game 2," Parker said. "Toughness is bred out of junior college. We are blue-collar here. It just wasn't a problem.
"I tweaked it last night. When I was in left field today, a dude hit a double, and I ran back and tore it, and I was in pretty much in pain all day. You got to be tough."
Southern Miss coach Scott Berry was quick to clarify that Parker's injury was a strain and not a tear but still admired his outfielder's grit.
"He didn't tear his oblique, but I think there is a strain there," Berry said. "Now let me tell you, Tate Park is a tough rascal. Don't get me wrong there.
"I think he has a strain, and for that, you have to credit him with the way he is swinging the bat. Maybe he's not overswinging it because of that. He's putting good contact on it."
However, Georgia Southern took a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning, which the Golden Eagles responded by plating three runs in the bottom of the frame to tie the game.
The visiting Eagles hit a 2-run homer in the seven, but USM answered again with a 3-run inning in the bottom half of the inning to take an 8-7 lead. However, a pair of home runs by Georgia Southern in the top of the ninth led to the Eagles taking the go-ahead lead.
"I was really proud of the way our guys came out," Berry said. "I thought they competed in an attempt to try and sweep. I didn't think they were content at all and laid down and were satisfied with just a series win.
"Winning a series can be a combination of a couple of things. I'm proud of the way that we came out and won those first two. They weren't to win. They weren't easy wins by any means."
Southern Miss travels to Pearl to face Ole Miss at Trustmark Park on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
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