A four-run opening frame helped life Southern Miss past Indiana State 6-2 to claim the series on Saturday.
“Really proud of that win today,” Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander said. “I thought it was a very complete game from the offensive side…and the pitching side.”
Ostrander has been preaching about starting fast, and Southern Miss did not hold back on that today. Golden Eagle starting pitcher Billy Oldham started the day by fanning three straight Sycamore batters in the top of the first inning.
In the bottom half of the first, the Southern Miss bats also got going quickly. Dalton McIntyre came up with an infield single, followed by an Ozzie Pratt single through the right side of the infield.
McIntyre had two infield singles today, adding to his already odd pattern of being able to come through with those hits.
Slade Wilks doubled to score them both to put USM up 2-0 early. The Golden Eagles plated a few more when Seth Smith came up with a fielder’s choice RBI, and Carson Paetow scored on a balk called on the Indiana State pitcher.
With Southern Miss already in a commanding lead of the game, Oldham really settled in and threw three great innings of work. He gave up a few runs in the top of the fourth with a fielder’s choice RBI by Connor Hicks and an RBI single by Adam Pottinger. Those scores brought the Sycamores back to make the score 4-2.
Outside of those two runs, Oldham settled in and stayed in command throughout his entire outing.
“I know exactly what I’m going to get,” Ostrander said on Oldham’s consistency. “He’s going to plus and minus, he’s going to mix, and he’s going to keep the hitters off balance for the most part.”
He posted a final line of 5 IP, 7 K, 2 BB, 3 H, 2 R on 93 pitches.
“I felt like my stuff was pretty good,” Oldham said. “Changeup felt really good, I have been working on just being more consistent with that. “
After Oldham’s outing, Colby Allen came in for three innings and pitched a gem in relief. Allen was pumping in the low 90s with a wicked changeup that helped him fan a batter and allow just three hits.
Allen also forced a crucial double play in the top of the eighth inning, with the Sycamores having two runners on first and second with no outs. The batter lined it right to Russo, and Russo caught the ball and stepped on first to get the runner out.
“Sometimes the ball goes your way,” Ostrander said. “That guy hit it on the screws but right to Russo and we get the double play. You got to have some of that sometimes, I’ll take it.”
Paetow gave Southern Miss some insurance in the bottom of the seventh when he blasted his second home run. He hit the ball 396 feet to center-right field, and the ball came off the bat at 106 MPH.
“It was a 3-1 count, and it was a fastball and I tried to put a good swing on it,” Paetow said. “I thought it was just going to be a pop-up but it kept going and it turned out to be a pretty good home run.”
Nick Monistere gave Southern Miss one more piece of insurance with a RBI-single in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Southern Miss will go for the sweep tomorrow at 1 PM, they have not been able to sweep an opponent this season and this is the series that would be critical if they were to be able to do that.
“We have to have the tunnel vision,” Paetow said. “Don’t get satisfied. Teams lose on Sunday’s when they are satisfied and we will do our best not to let that happen.”
