Southern Miss continued its five-game road trip this weekend at The University of Alabama at Birmingham with a three-game series. The Golden Eagles lost two of the three games this past weekend, ending their previous 10-game win streak against Conference USA opponents this season.
In the weekend contest, the Golden Eagles accumulated 21 runs off of 26 hits, while allowing
UAB 13 runs off of 28 hits. Despite producing more runs than the opposition, Southern Miss’ efforts fell short of taking the series.
In game one, Southern Miss scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning to push ahead, 3-0. The lead seemed to be comfortable for the Golden Eagles until the Blazers had a three-run inning of their own following soon after.
UAB’s Jared Nixon hit for the cycle on the night. His solo home run in the bottom of the
fifth helped UAB decrease the deficit, 3-1. Nixon’s hitting proved to be contagious as the Blazers recorded three more hits in the inning, two singles and one triple. The four-hit inning proved valuable to the Blazers as they cut the deficit completely, 3-3.
UAB went on to score a point in the two innings that followed and limited Southern Miss to only gain hits but no scores. Between both teams, seven different pitchers saw action on the mound in the contest. UAB got the upper hand and took the game, 5-3.
Game two showcased the dominant offensive performance from both sides. Out of the gate, Southern Miss’ Dylan Burdeaux doubled to right center. After a hit-by-pitch and two consecutive walks, the Golden Eagles managed to put two runs on the board early in the ball game.
UAB would not let their slow defensive start translate to the offensive side of their game. After a walk and a strikeout, Esteban Tresgallo homered to tie the game up, 2-2. Riley McCown tripled to left field and collected an RBI to put UAB ahead, 3-2. A wild pitch right after the McCown triple resulted in him advancing home to score, giving UAB a 4-2 lead.
The Blazers’ hot inning would last through to the bottom of the second inning when they scored two more runs to make the lead, 6-2.
Southern Miss would counter- attack at the top of the third inning off of a Chuckie Robinson home run. Robinson’s home run was his second on the season and gave the Golden Eagles two more runs to cut into the deficit, 6-4.
Southern Miss would shut out UAB for five consecutive innings while making a run of their own.
The Golden Eagles scored five runs in this period and took the lead, 7-6.
The ball game looked like it was Southern Miss’ to take until a double and hit-by-pitch put UAB’s Griffin Gum in the box. Gum delivered a single and brought home the game-tying run with two outs in the inning. Following Gum’s single was Carter Pharis, who also singled and brought home the game-winning RBI to solidify the Blazers win, 8-7.
In the series finale, Southern Miss controlled the entire ball game. The Golden Eagles managed to score in five of the seven innings, with three of them being multiple run innings.
Southern Miss shutout UAB’s offense, only allowing three hits and no runs. UAB was forced yet again to explore deep into their pitching core as five pitchers saw time on the mound. Despite multiple pitching changes, the Golden Eagles never decreased their effort on offense.
Southern Miss won the contest 11-0 with nine hits, five strikeouts and two home runs.
Southern Miss is set to face Tulane Tuesday in New Orleans. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
