After winning 11 straight games, the No. 8 nationally ranked Southern Miss baseball team fell behind early and never fully recovered in a 9-6 loss to Troy on Saturday in game one of the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals.
Despite mounting a ninth-inning rally for the second straight game against the Trojans (32-28), the Golden Eagles (42-15) could not overcome the early deficit. Weather also played a factor at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala., where lightning delayed the game for nearly two hours midway through the seventh inning.
Trailing 9-2 entering the ninth, Southern Miss attempted a late comeback. Catcher Tucker Stockman opened the inning with a single before Seth Smith followed with another hit to load the bases. Joey Urban then cleared the bases with a triple and later scored on a Kyle Morrison single. But then the Golden Eagles’ rally ended with a strikeout.
Troy took control early by scoring three runs in the third inning on four hits against Southern Miss starter Camden Sunstrom.
After Houston Markham led off with a single and Aaron Piasecki doubled, Josh Pyne reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed Markham to scramble safely back to third and load the bases. Blake Cavill followed with a chopper over Southern Miss infielder Matthew Russo’s head and into right field to drive in the first run. Jimmy Janicki then added an RBI infield single before Drew Nelson capped the inning with a run-scoring fielder’s choice.
Southern Miss answered with a run in the fourth. Russo singled down the third-base line, and Ben Higdon added a two-out single before Stockman drove in Russo with a single to right-center field.
Troy extended its lead in the sixth when Pyne blasted a two-run homer off reliever Thomas Crabtree — his eighth home run of the season — to make it 5-1. The Golden Eagles responded with a run in the bottom of the inning after Gillespie led off with a double and later scored on Higdon’s sacrifice fly, making the score 5-2.
The Trojans broke the game open in the seventh. Following a single, a walk, and a hit batter, Piasecki lined a bases-clearing triple down the line to stretch Troy’s lead to 8-2. Troy added its final run in the eighth inning when Sean Darnell was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Southern Miss attempted the eleventh-hour rally in the ninth inning but to no avail. The final score was 9-6.
Sunstrom (6-4) took the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
Troy starter Zach Crotchfelt (5-2) earned the win after limiting Southern Miss to one run on five hits across five innings while recording eight strikeouts and one walk.
Next up
Southern Miss and Troy will meet again in game two of the semifinals on Sunday at 9 a.m. The winner will advance to face Louisiana in the Sun Belt Conference championship game at 1 p.m. Southern Miss is looking to win its third conference tournament in four years.
