Tulane powers past No. 11 Southern Miss, 10-7

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Tulane baseball hit four home runs and sophomore Trent Johnson earned the win with 6.0 relief innings as the Green Wave went on the road and defeated No. 11 Southern Miss, 10-7, Tuesday evening at Pete Taylor Park.

Sophomore third baseman Kody Hoese hit two home runs, and junior center fielder Grant Witherspoon and junior first baseman Trevor Jensen each hit one homer. Johnson (3-2) entered in relief in the third inning and tallied a career-high eight strikeouts before leaving in the ninth. Witherspoon went 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs, and sophomore designated hitter Grant Mathews collected three hits and a big insurance RBI as part of a three-run ninth inning.

Leading 7-5, the Green Wave (22-24) scored three runs with two outs on three doubles in the top of the ninth to extend the lead to 10-5. The Golden Eagles (32-12) plated two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but freshman Connor Pellerin shut the door to earn his second save of the season.

Tulane took a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning with three runs on homers by Witherspoon and Hoese. A two-run homer by Jensen in the seventh extended the lead to 7-3. Jensen’s homer was his fourth of the season and gave Tulane its season-high fourth home run of the game.

“It was a quality win for our team, and I’m really happy for the kids. They came out ready to play,” Tulane head coach Travis Jewett said. “Trent came in and limited a bases-loaded situation, then kept them in check and our offense got going. We talk all the time about how the game is never over and you have to play all of the pitches, and the three runs there in the ninth inning proved to be the difference. I was proud of the kids for continuing to play. Pellerin did a heck of a job coming in and limiting some opportunities they had, and we were able to get the win.”

Tulane scored in the top of the second on Hoese’s first home run to tie the score 1-1 after Southern Miss plated a run in the first. The Green Wave took a 2-1 lead in the third when Witherspoon drove a single to right that was misplayed allowing sophomore second baseman Jonathon Artigues to score from first.

Southern Miss scored in the top of the first on a bases-loaded hit batter, but the Green Wave limited the damage to the single run. The Golden Eagles scored on sacrifice flies in the third and fourth innings to take a 3-2 lead. In the third, Johnson came in with the bases loaded and no outs and sandwiched a strikeout and groundout around a sacrifice fly to end the inning.

The Green Wave put together a three-run fifth inning with a pair of home runs by Witherspoon and Hoese. Artigues started it with a one-out single and Witherspoon followed with an opposite-field two-run homer on a 3-0 pitch – his eighth home run of the season. Two batters later, Hoese struck his second homer of the game and fifth of the season – a massive blast over the light standard in left field to make the score 5-3.

Jensen got in on the action in the seventh with a two-run home run over the billboard in left field to extend the lead to 7-3.

Southern Miss cut the lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run home run by third baseman Luke Reynolds.

Tulane picked up three insurance runs in the top of the ninth on three two-out doubles. Jensen started it with a double down the line in left, and after an intentional walk to Hoese, freshman left fielder David Bedgood drove a two-run double to the gap in right center. Mathews then followed with an RBI double to right that scored Bedgood and make it 10-5.

Reynolds hit a solo home run to start the ninth, and with two runners on base, Pellerin came in and sandwiched two strikeouts around an RBI single then coaxed a flyout to right field to end the game.

Tulane returns home for a three-game American Athletic Conference series against ECU at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday.

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Tulane 10, Southern Miss 7 (May 01, 2018 at Hattiesburg, Miss.)
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Tulane………….. 011 030 203 – 10 13 2 (22-24)
Southern Miss……. 101 100 202 – 7 10 1 (32-12)
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Pitchers: Tulane – MASSEY, Ross; JOHNSON, Trent(3); PELLERIN, Connor(9) and OWEN, Acy.
Southern Miss – Wright, Jarod; Keys, J.C.(3); Jackson, Adam(6); Strickland, Mason(7);
Carroll, Cody(9) and Bowen, Bryant.
Win-JOHNSON, Trent(3-2) Save-PELLERIN, Connor(2) Loss-Keys, J.C.(3-4) T-3:01 A-3712
HR TLN – WITHERSPOON, Grant (8); JENSEN, Trevor (4); HOESE, Kody 2 (5).
HR USM – Reynolds, Luke 2 (10).
Weather: 79 deg., part. cloudy, SSE 11
R. MASSEY faced 3 batters in the 3rd.
J.C. Keys faced 2 batters in the 6th.
Jackson faced 2 batters in the 7th.
Tr. JOHNSON faced 3 batters in the 9th.