Courtesy of USM Athletics
A solo home run by Reed Trimble lifted Southern Miss to a game one 4-3 victory, before Louisiana Tech rallied for a 5-3 win in the nightcap of a Conference USA doubleheader Saturday afternoon at J.C. Love Field.
Trimble led off the eighth inning with a blast to right for his eighth homer of the year. It was the second homer for the Golden Eagles in the opening game.
A solo home run by Hunter Wells in the opening frame, though, gave the nationally-ranked Bulldogs (24-8 overall, 10-3 in Conference USA) the initial lead.
The game remained 1-0 until the fourth.
Trimble was hit by a pitch with one out and Christopher Sargent followed two batters later with a homer to left-center to give the Golden Eagles a 2-1 advantage. Southern Miss extended the lead to two runs after scoring on an RBI single by Reece Ewing in the sixth.
It was then the Bulldogs’ turn to rally as they tied the game in the bottom of the frame. After Taylor Young collected a one-out single, Wells and Manny Garcia each collected RBI doubles to tie the score at 3-3 before Trimble broke the tie in the eighth.
While LA Tech outhit the Golden Eagles in the opening game 7-4, Southern Miss still got solid pitching from starter Hunter Stanley and reliever Ryan Och.
Stanley gave up three runs on four hits over 5 1/3 innings with no walks and five strikeouts, while Och gave up three hits and walked one while fanning six over the final 3 2/3 to get the victory and improve to 4-0.
LA Tech reliever Kyle Crigger gave up the homer to Trimble as it was the only run and hit he allowed while fanning a pair to suffer the loss and fall to 0-1.
In the nightcap, LA Tech jumped out to again an early advantage with a two-run homer in the second from Philip Matulia, his fourth of the year, off of Golden Eagle starter Walker Powell. A sacrifice fly from Garcia one inning later increased the lead to 3-0.
Southern Miss (22-11, 9-4) chipped into that lead over the next two innings. The Golden Eagles plated its first run in the fourth on a wild pitch and then Danny Lynch tied the game a frame later with a deep shot to straight away center that bounced off the batter’s eye, a two-run shot, No. 8 in 2021 to tie the score.
The Bulldogs jumped out in front again for good in the bottom half of the frame as Young singled with one out before Wells and Bates delivered run-scoring doubles to complete the scoring.
LA Tech starter Ryan Jennings covered 6 2/3 innings and gave up three runs on five hits and fanned nine with no walks to get the win and improve to 3-2 on the year. Landon Tomkins threw the final 2 1/3 innings to earn his fourth save.
Powell posted his shortest outing of the season and allowed five runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings with two walks and three strikeouts to suffer the loss and fall to 5-2.
The two teams complete the series with a 1 p.m., twinbill Sunday. It will be a pair of seven-inning games.
