Southern Miss outslugs LA Tech in C-USA opener, 12-9

RUSTON, La. – In a game that saw 20 combined runs, 27 combined hits and took over three and a half hours to play, Louisiana Tech found itself on the wrong end of a 12-9 final against the visiting Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Friday evening from J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.

The Bulldogs (11-6, 0-1 C-USA) struck for a season-high four home runs, but were unable to silence the Golden Eagle (9-6, 1-0 C-USA) bats, led by a combined 10 RBI from Hunter Slater, Matt Wallner and Bryant Blaylock.

Southern Miss struck off Tech starter, Matt Miller in the first inning, after a three-run blast from Wallner broke the scoring open.

Then, trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the second, the Tech offense struck for one of its most productive offensive outputs of the year. The inning began with an eight-pitch leadoff walk from captain Chris Clayton, bringing up designated hitter Shelton Wallace, who saw eight pitches of his own before launching a two run blast over the wall in right center.

Later in the frame, sophomore Steele Netterville turned on the first pitch he saw from Southern Miss starter Walker Powell, and deposited it over the wall in left, giving Tech its first lead of the game at 4-3. Parker Bates would cap off the five-run inning with a game-tying single to right, scoring Taylor Young from second, who had doubled with two outs.

With Tech leading 5-3, heading into the third, the game swung back to even after a passed ball scored a run, followed by an RBI groundout from Blaylock, tied things up at five.

Tech was held off the board in the bottom of the third, before Southern Miss’ Slater clubbed a three-run blast in the top of the 4th off Tech reliever Jonathan Fincher, giving the Golden Eagles an 8-5 lead.

Southern Miss would tack on another in the top of the fifth, to extend the lead to 9-5 before back-to-back solo home runs from Parker Bates and Mason Mallard drew the ‘Dogs back to within two at 9-7 through five innings.

However, Southern Miss struck back in the top of the sixth after Hoard and Wallner led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Freshman Beau Billings would enter in relief of Fincher and began his outing with a wild pitch, moving both runners into scoring position. Blaylock then worked an eight-pitch at bat before shooting a two-RBI single into right, extending the Southern Miss cushion back out to four at 11-7.

Kyle Griffen would enter in relief of Billings and promptly escaped a bases-loaded no-outs jam with a strikeout of Cooper and a 6-4-3 double-play grounder from the leadoff man, Montenegro.

The Bulldogs again drew to within two after sac fly from Bates in the sixth and an RBI single from Mason Robinson in the seventh.

With a two-run lead, Southern Miss called on J.C. Keys in the eighth, and the right-hander delivered, allowing just two hits, while striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth, securing the 12-9 victory and earning his second save of the season.

Fincher (1-1) picked up the loss, going 2.1 innings, while allowing six runs (five earned) on five hits. Aaron Ginn was the winning pitcher of record for Southern Miss, as the junior right-hander tossed 3.0 innings, while allowing a pair of unearned runs and did not walk a batter.

The Bulldogs issued seven walks to Southern Miss batters, while the Golden Eagles walked just one.

The two teams will return to action in game two of the three-game set, Saturday at 2 p.m. from J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.