Even though the offense did not put up numbers like it did in previous contests in the tournament, the Golden Eagles were able to get it done against Marshall on Saturday 3-2.
“We had to really show up on the pitching side and the defensive side,” said coach Scott Berry. “I wouldn’t have thought three runs would have been enough to win the game. But it was with the arms we threw out there.”
Starting Marshall pitcher Chase Boster threw 89 pitches in the team’s Saturday contest against the Golden Eagles after throwing 114 pitches on Wednesday in the Thundering Herd’s contest against Florida International.
Boster seemed fatigued in his showing against the Golden Eagles, giving up three runs early in the top of the first inning. He finished with a stat line of 4.2 innings pitched, giving up four hits and striking out 4 batters.
With the three runs that Boster gave up in the first inning, Marshall was able to answer back with an Aaron Bossi double to bring in DJ Gee to score from second base.
Walker Powell, who came into the game with a 3.50 ERA, limited the Herd to their lone run in the first inning facing him. Powell gave up eight hits in his three innings of work as the starter.
Although USM’s offense had been high-powered as of late, they were being limited by Marshall’s pitching. After their runs in the first inning, Southern Miss did not put up any more runs for the rest of the contest, but that did not prove to be a detriment.
Both ways, this was a contest dictated by way of efficient pitching. Ten pitchers were used total in this contest and the score reflect a dominating effort on the mound.
On the Golden Eagles side, coach Scott Berry used five pitchers out of his bullpen and all of them gave up three or less hits, sans Powell.
“Winston, Powers, Sandlin and even Walker Powell, they all showed up today,” Berry said. “It gave us a great, great outing from the pitching staff.”
Marshall had a chance to take the advantage late in the game in the bottom of the eighth with a Corey Bird single. That hit brought Marshall within one run in the game, but the Herd was not able to cross the game-tying run stranded at third base.
“If the offense doesn’t show up, which it’s not going to every day as we all know, then you’ve got to be able to play those other two parts of the game in the pitching and the defense,” Berry said. “On this given day, [we] really did.”
Southern Miss was not without leaving batters on base, either. For contrast, Southern Miss left 11 on base and Marshall left 13 on base in comparison.
Southern Miss will play the winner out of Louisiana Tech-Rice in the C-USA Championship game on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
