Behind a small yet mostly black and gold crowd at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala., the Southern Miss baseball team defeated Troy on Saturday morning to land a spot in the Sun Belt championship game.
Despite finishing the game with only four hits, all the Golden Eagles needed was a two-run single off the bat of Joey Urban to give the bullpen enough cushion to secure a 2-1 win.
Scoring summary
Starting pitcher Grayson Harris allowed a Sean Darnell double in the opening inning, which scored Steven Meier and made for an early 1-0 lead for Troy. The Trojans would go on to put 12 more runners on base throughout the game but were unable to capitalize.
When the Golden Eagles stepped up to bat in the bottom of the first inning, the first two batters – Jake Cook and Nick Monistere – reached base. A Joey Urban single that was misplayed by Troy resulted in both runners scoring and a 2-1 lead.
There would be no scoring for the rest of the game as both sides of the pitching battle remained tough.
Harris was pulled in the fourth inning by Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander, who turned to Kros Sivley. Sivley (7-1) got the win, pitching four innings of scoreless ball to go along with two strikeouts. Colby Allen then came in and earned his 12th save of the season.
What the coach said
While Ostrander was visibly excited that his team is advancing to its third consecutive Sun Belt championship game, he took some time to tout the Trojans performance.
“Our offense didn’t have a lot going on with [Troy pitcher Chase Nelson] shutting us down,” he said. “It was an unbelievable performance by that man, and Troy deserves an NCAA playoff berth on Monday. Our fans and community have supported the program for years, and we don’t take that for granted.”
When’s the championship game?
Southern Miss will return to the diamond on Sunday to play the winner of Coastal Carolina and Marshall in the Sun Belt championship. The Chanticleers only need one win to advance while the Thundering Herd will need to notch two. The championship game will be played at 1 p.m. CT.
The Golden Eagles are still very much so in the hunt to host a regional, with sites being announced Sunday night. The full 64-team field for the NCAA tournament will be announced Monday.
