No. 8 Southern Miss survived a lengthy weather delay and a scare versus Georgia State in the Sun Belt Tournament on Wednesday night, earning a 7-6 victory.
The Golden Eagles (41-14) found themselves trailing 4-2 midway through the contest, but scored in each of their final five offensive frames to come out on top. Things did get a little dicey in the top of the ninth inning, however, with the Panthers (26-29) scoring on an RBI double and threatening to take the lead with two runners in scoring position. Nonetheless, proven reliever Colby Allen did his job in keeping 9-seeded Georgia State from playing spoiler.
Top-seeded Southern Miss started the game off with a two-run single by Matthew Russo in the bottom of the first. Shortly following, Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year Grayden Harris allowed two runs in the top of the third inning to even the score before lightning struck in the Montgomery, Ala. area and prompted what ended up becoming a roughly three-hour delay.
After the two teams returned to the playing field. Panther center fielder John Beverley knocked in a two-run single to increase the Georgia State lead to 4-2. Southern Miss, seemingly lethargic earlier in the battle, was awakened in the bottom of the fifth when Kyle Morrison roped a home run over the left-field wall.
Hitting then became contagious for the black and gold, with Tucker Stockman hitting an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, followed by Russo and Ben Higdon knocking RBI singles in the bottom of the seventh. Russo brought in another run with a sacrifice groundout in the bottom of the eighth inning. Southern Miss then led 7-5. From there, Allen found himself in a jam, but worked out of it and advanced his team in the conference tournament.
Numbers never lie
Russo and Highdon each had two hits, but Morrison reached base four times, including his team-leading 16th home run, and scored three runs. Russo drove in four runs while Stockman reached base three times and was hit by a pitch twice.
On the mound, Allen (6-1) was credited with the win after fanning three batters, while allowing six hits and two earned runs in 2.1 innings. Christian Ostrander’s pitching staff had a collective 10 strikeouts in the game.
Next up
Southern Miss moved into the winner’s bracket of the Sun Belt Tournament and will play the victor of Thursday’s matchup between Troy and South Alabama on Friday at 11 a.m. CT. The game will air on ESPN+.
