KNOXVILLE, Tenn – Southern Miss struck out 11 times, left ten runners on base and finished 3-20 (.150) with runners on in their 10-4 loss to Indiana to open the Knoxville Regional.
“Tip my hat to Indiana, I thought they came out swinging the bats really aggressive,” Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander said. “We never really could get control of that box and they made it really tough on out starter, Billy.”
Indiana put together 17 hits and jumped all over Southern Miss starter Billy Oldham with two runs in the first inning and three more in the second.
“With Billy it’s all about gaining control of the batters box,” Ostrander said. “Had a hard time doing it. Their approach had a lot to do with that, and their hitters. I tip my hat to that.”
After Oldham downed the first two Hoosier batters, Brock Tibbits launched his fourth home run of the season, a two-run shot to put the Hoosiers up 2-0 early.
However, the wheels came off in the second inning when Morgan Colopy doubled down the left-field line to bring home another run, then Josh Pyne singled through the left side to bring home two more runs and put Indiana up 5-0 in the blink of an eye it seemed.
Indiana even got the first two batters to reach in the third inning, but Oldham initiated three straight shallow flyouts to limit the damage.
Two more came across in the top of the fourth when Oldham gave up a 2RBI-double from Tibbits to put Indiana up 7-0. That is when Ostrander brought in Kros Sivley for Oldham, and Sivley pitched the rest of the game for the Golden Eagles.
“The first couple at bats I thought were really good,” Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer said. “I looked over at one our our coaches and said if we just stick to this plan we will have a really good day. We wanted to just keep extending at bats…and we did.”
Oldham finished the day with 3.2 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 1 K, and 82 TP, earning the loss in his second-worst outing of the season. He gave up ten hits and nine earned runs to Georgia State in one of his other losses.
Indiana added another run in the top of the fifth inning when Devin Taylor collected an RBI single to make the score a resounding 8-0.
For Southern Miss, going down that many runs late in the game hindered them from ever getting back into the game.
Nick Monistere drilled his eleventh home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning to drive home two Golden Eagle runs. Even with the blast, it still felt like Southern Miss was down 100.
Dalton McIntyre added another in the sixth when he reached on an error to score the Eagle’s third run of the day.
However, in a moment that could have changed the game, Ozzie Pratt popped out to strand the bases loaded.
“We did a decent job of getting runners on base, we were just lacking the big hits in certain moments,” Southern Miss right fielder Slade Wilks said. “We left runners on when we were a few big hits from getting back into that ballgame and I think that was the difference.”
Wilks went 1-5 today, extending his hitting streak to 33 games.
Southern Miss could not get past Indiana’s starter Ty Bothwell, who pitched five and two-thirds, scattering seven hits and fanning nine on his way to his seventh win of the season.
“I thought their pitcher was really good, we didn’t have much of answer against him.” Ostrander said.
The Golden Eagles are now in the loser’s bracket, where they will have to win four straight to earn a berth in their third straight Super Regional.
Last season, after dropping the first game in the Auburn Regional, Southern Miss won four straight times to take the Regional.
Using only two pitchers today makes Southern Miss’s chances of doing seem more doable than one might have thought.
“Our back are against the wall, and it’s a fight,” Wilks said. “We have got to stay locked in at every pitch and just compete at the highest level that we can bring.”
The Golden Eagles will play the Tennessee-Northern Kentucky loser tomorrow at 11 AM CT, facing elimination.
“It’s a war now,” Wilks said.
Injury Update
To add insult to injury, Ostrander announced that Carson Paetow will not be available for the rest of the regional. A brutal loss.
