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MOBILE, Ala.  – University of South Alabama left-hander James Traylor struck out a career high seven batters in 5 2/3 relief innings to lead the Jaguars to a 6-5 win over Southern Mississippi Wednesday at Stanky Field.

Traylor (2-1) entered in relief of starter Andrew Fonzi in the bottom of the first inning, and allowed two runs on four hits while setting a career high in strikeouts. Left-hander Kyle Bartsch pitched a perfect ninth inning and struck out two to earn his third save of the season. Right-hander Dylan Stamey tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings, and did not allow a hit while striking out four of the five batters he faced.

Whitt Dorsey went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI to lead the Jaguars at the plate, while Jordan Patterson finished 1-for-3 with three RBI.

USM (6-6) pushed across three runs in the top of the first, aided by RBI singles from Isaac Rodriguez and Tim Lynch, to take a 3-0 lead.

South Alabama (12-2) loaded the bases in the bottom of the first on a leadoff single by Cole Billingsley and consecutive walks by Jeff DeBlieux and Bud Collura. Patterson then reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Billingsley, and DeBlieux scored from second on the play after a Golden Eagle throwing error to cut the USM lead to 3-2. Two batters later, Dorsey doubled down the left field line to score Collura and Patterson to give the Jags a 4-3 lead.  

USA loaded the bases again in the bottom of the second on a walk by Billingsley and consecutive singles from DeBlieux and Collura. Patterson then delivered a two-run single back up the middle to give the Jags a 6-4 lead.

The Golden Eagles scored the game’s final run in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Rodriguez.

From there, USM reliever Cody Livingston held the Jaguar bats in check and allowed just one hit in 5 2/3 shutout innings while striking out three. A.J. Glasshof (0-2) suffered the loss in 1 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits with three walks.

Rodriguez went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored to lead Southern Mississippi at the plate.

 “I feel very fortunate to win that ball game but we have a bunch of guys who were knocked to the mat last year and they learned how to get up and keep playing," head coach Mark Calvi said. "That paid some dividends tonight. Fonzi’s been great for us. Early this year he had a rough start. But he was throwing strikes, just credit them (Southern Miss). They put runners in motion and they did a good job early. It looked like we were going to be here for eight hours but Traylor came in on a tough night to pitch, it’s cold and it’s hard to throw breaking balls. You can’t get a sweat going.

"Traylor did an outstanding job and Dylan Stamey was good again and then to Kyle Bartsch. The bullpen did a great job. You hate to go to them that early but I’m glad that we’ve got those guys down there. They’ve been fantastic so far and our guys hung in there and did what they had to do. We took advantage of some walks and scored a couple of runs. You know, it was an ugly game but I would rather win ugly than lose pretty."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).