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MOBILE, Ala. – Right-hander Miles Smith tossed seven scoreless innings to lead the University of South Alabama baseball team to a 3-1 series-opening win over Middle Tennessee Friday at Stanky Field.

Smith (2-0) allowed just one hit and struck out seven batters without issuing a walk to record his second win in as many starts. Jaguar right-hander Grant Wood tossed two relief innings, and allowed one run on two hits with two strikeouts and one walk to record his second save of the season. The victory extended South Alabama's win streak to five games.

NEXT UP
South Alabama will return to action Saturday when it hosts Middle Tennessee at 2 p.m. at Stanky Field.

GAME FACTS
- Charles Middleton drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second, and a one-out walk by Erick Orbeta and infield single to shortstop by Santi Montiel loaded the bases. Joseph Sullivan followed with an RBI groundout to second to score Middleton for a 1-0 Jaguar lead.
- Hunter Stokes reached on a two-base fielding error on a grounder to second to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. A single by Orbeta put runners at the corners with no outs. But Blue Raider right-hander Zach Keenan got an infield fly to shortstop off the bat of Montiel for the first out of the frame, and escaped the jam with an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play to Sullivan.
- Middle Tennessee threatened with two runners in scoring position with two outs in the top of the eighth following a two-out walk by Nathan Sanders and a double down the left field line by Jared Vetetoe. But Jaguar right-handed reliever Grant Wood induced a 4-3 inning-ending groundout off the bat of Luke Vinson to end the threat and preserve a one-run Jaguar lead.
- USA doubled its lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth on a two-out RBI double to right-center field by Stokes that scored Simington, who reached on a one-out single through the right side of the infield. Orbeta followed with an RBI single up the middle to plate Stokes for a 3-0 lead.
- The Blue Raiders scored their lone run of the game on a leadoff solo home run to center field by Fausto Lopez in the top of the ninth inning.

NOTES
- Smith retired the final 10 batters he faced in the game, and did not allow a runner to reach second in his seven innings pitched.
- Middleton extended his on-base streak to eight games with a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second.
- Simington extended his hitting streak to eight games with a two-out single to left-center field in the bottom of the third.
- Jordan extended his on-base streak to eight games and extended his hit streak to six games with a two-out single to left field in the bottom of the fifth. 
- Stokes went 2-for-4 with a double, one RBI and one run scored, and Orbeta finished 2-for-3 with one RBI. Simington added two hits and one run scored, and Sullivan added one RBI.
- Middle Tennessee right-hander Zach Keenan (1-1) allowed three runs on eight hits with five strikeouts against two walks in 7 2/3 innings pitched in the loss.

Head Coach Mark Calvi
- On the win:
"That is what a Friday night game looks like. I thought Miles (Smith) was exceptional tonight, and that's why he is on Friday. He really put some aspects of his game together that he hasn't thus far early in the season. He moved his fastball around and I thought his changeup was outstanding and had great action to it, and he moved his breaking ball around. But I think the biggest thing was his fastball command today, and he used the inner-third of the plate to both righties and lefties just enough to keep them off the outer-third when you need to make a pitch. I thought he was outstanding – both kids. We faced him (MT starter Zach Keenan) last year and he was outstanding. He had a 1.20 ERA coming into tonight's game, so I knew we had our hands full and we weren't going to score a lot. Every run and pitch mattered, everything mattered tonight. It was as advertised. He was really good and had good sink, and we did just enough to touch home plate more than they (Middle Tennessee) did."

Right-handed pitcher Miles Smith
- On his performance:
"The last two weeks I couldn't really throw my fastball where I wanted to, and I was putting myself into trouble more than anything. Tonight I was able to locate inside and outside, throw my changeup when I wanted to and get some early quick outs to keep my pitch count down and try to get to the seventh (inning) to hand it off to Woodie (Grant Wood) in the eighth and ninth."

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