(Photos/Sean Smith)
The successor has surpassed the predecessor as Scott Berry passed his former boss, Corky Palmer, in wins at Southern Miss with 459 – second all-time in Southern Miss history.
The ties between Scott Berry and Corky Palmer run deep, as Berry served as assistant coach for Palmer at Meridian Community College before succeeding Palmer. In 2000, Palmer hired Berry again – this time at Southern Miss. Berry served as an assistant coach before succeeding Palmer once more in 2010.
“Coach Palmer’s like a brother to me. From the baseball side, nobody played a bigger role than him,” said Berry. “That relationship is really special.”
“Coach Berry is one of the greatest guys I’ve ever met,” said designated hitter Christoper Sargent. “You can’t say enough about him… He doesn’t take much credit, but he’s the reason why we are where we are…The legacy around here is just awesome.”
The legacy that Sargent spoke of stems back to 1959 when Pete Taylor was hired as head coach. Taylor won 320 games over 24 seasons, and he was followed by Hill Denson (468 wins over 14 seasons), Palmer (458 wins over 12 seasons) and Berry who is now in his 13th season. There has been an unprecedented level of consistency for Golden Eagle baseball over the last 63 years.
“It’s one of those things where I’m just a small piece of the puzzle,” said Berry. “I’m very appreciative of what has happened here, but I owe some of that to [Palmer].”
Berry reached the milestone in a gritty 3-2 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in the pouring rain. Though Southeastern’s record is 13-20, they had previously won five out of six games and notched victories over Arkansas, Louisiana Tech and Ole Miss (who was #1 at the time).
“Certainly closer than I would have wanted it to be,” said Berry. “Hats off to them. They really got after us tonight, but in the end it was our guys that performed just a little bit better than them.”
“Great teams find a way to win even if you play bad. We pitched well and we played defense well,” said Sargent.
The defensive performance was highlighted by Danny Lynch who made multiple highlight plays at third base. The team also allowed zero errors.
“Danny made some great plays. Tremendous defense is what wins you games,” said Berry. “We didn’t hurt ourselves, and that was the goal coming in.”
The offense was highlighted by Sargent who hit two home runs, which turned out to be the difference. Gabe Montenegro was the only other Golden Eagle to plate a runner, as he hit a sac-fly in the 4th.
Tyler Stuart started the game on the mound for Southern Miss, pitching three scoreless innings. He was relieved by Aubrey Gillentine who recorded his first victory of the year after going one-and-a-third scoreless innings. Garrett Ramsey recorded his third save of the season.
Trailing by one in the top of the ninth inning, the Lions attempted a double steal.
“Rodrigo [Montenegro] throws a great ball to Will [McGillis] who relays it back to Rodrigo to end that threat. One pitch later, we’re the winners.”
The ending was not without controversy, as the Lion baserunner appeared to be safe on the television replay. Due to Conference USA rules, replay review was not available and the play stood as called. Ramsey struck out the next batter and the Golden Eagles escaped with a victory to claim their sixth straight.
The Golden Eagles advance to 24-8 on the season, and they travel to Miami to take on the FIU Panthers for a weekend series starting on Thursday.
