The Southern Miss baseball team will be spending all Hallows Eve at Pete Taylor Park, playing Game 4 of their second annual Breast Cancer Awareness Fall Baseball World Series.
Divided into Black and Gold squads, the baseball team is perhaps playing their last game of the series as the Gold squad (3-0) is one win away from claiming this best-of-seven contest.
In an electrifying Game 1 on Oct. 24, the Gold team finished the game with 16 hits. After no hits in 3 2/3 innings and a two-run homerun by Black centerfielder Mason Robbins, Gold tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth inning.
In the top of the fifth inning, catcher David Walley sent the ball into the leftfield corner for an RBI double, followed by a Nick Dawson RBI single that gave the Gold a 4-2 lead.
A pair of unearned runs for the Black briefly tied the game at 4-4, but the Gold team left the Black behind with five runs in the sixth. The Gold squad simply out-hit the Black squad to take Game 1 handily, 11-4.
Sunday, Oct. 27, was Gold’s third consecutive come-from-behind victory in the series.
The Black squad jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first, but the Gold answered with three runs in the top of the second. The Gold extended their lead 4-2 with another run in the third. The Black squad chipped away at the lead and went into the final frame tied 4-4.
Gold infielder Tim Lynch, a sophomore from Jupiter, Fla., singled in Austin Roussel for the game-winning RBI in the top of the seventh.
Cody Carroll, a redshirt sophomore from Mt. Juliet, Tenn., was the starting pitcher for the Gold squad. Carroll pitched three innings, allowing three runs on three hits and recorded four strikeouts.
A bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the fourth brought in Gold reliever Cody Livingston, who pitched a solid three innings with only one run on two hits, a pair of strikeouts and was credited with the win.
Bradley Roney earned the save as he put away the side, allowing only one hit, in the bottom of the seventh to give the Gold another win.
Game 4 should prove interesting. While the Black squad has remained competitive in the first three or four innings of each game, the Gold squad has proven they know how to finish. Both teams have had their fair share of errors, but the Gold has simply outplayed the Black squad in every facet of the game.
“Trick or Treat at the Pete” is set for 5 p.m. on Thursday night at Pete Taylor Park, in conjunction with Game 4 of the baseball team’s fall series. Halloween-themed games and trick or treating will be available for children, as well as face painting and more.
“We wanted to be able to give our fans a family-friendly evening that includes baseball and all the fun that goes along with Halloween,” USM baseball coach Scott Berry said. “It should be another exciting evening at The Pete.”
Admission to the game is free and all are invited to watch the baseball team play the fourth game in their series.
