Middle inning surge, strong pitching lifts UNO past Southern Miss

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers posted a middle-inning scoring surge and made it hold up as they defeated the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 6-3 on Tuesday evening at Maestri Field.

DECISIONS
Caleb Menina threw a scoreless inning in the fifth to pick up his first win in a Privateer uniform. Billy Oldham took his first loss of the season.

New Orleans (12-9) entered the bottom of the fourth inning trailing 2-1. That’s when they commenced a two-out rally. Mitchell Sanford singled on a line drive to the opposite field to get aboard. Anthony Herron Jr. then sent a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left field to give the Privateers their first lead of the night.

The scoring continued with three runs in the fifth. Three extra base hits came from the top of the order in the frame. Kasten Furr and Tristan Moore both hit triples and Tyler Bischke blasted a two-run homer on a line drive to left to give the Privateers a 6-2 lead.

Pitching was the theme of the night though as eight different pitchers combined to keep the Golden Eagles off balance. The staff collectively held Southern Miss (12-8) to five hits on the night and three consecutive pitchers (Nolan Daniel, Connor Handy and Canaan Clayton) faced the minimum in their respective innings of work from the sixth through the eighth.

Southern Miss got the tying run to the plate, but Matthew Maldonado indued a first pitch grounder that turned into a fielder’s choice.

The win was the first for the Privateers at home against Southern Miss since 2005.

INSIDE THE BOX
Jack Williams and Tod Gauthe both made their season debuts. Williams turned in a scoreless inning. Beau Blanchard got five of his six outs via strikeout. Five pitchers threw a scoreless inning and all of them did it in 13 pitches or fewer.

Furr, Bischke and Herron each had two RBI. Issac Williams drew a pair of walks.

NEXT UP
The Privateers open Southland play on the road when they face Lamar. The series starts with a Friday first pitch at 6 p.m.

SOCIAL MEDIA
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