HATTIESBURG, Miss. | South Alabama fell behind early before dropping a 6-1 decision to Southern Miss at Pete Taylor Field on Sunday afternoon.
The series is the first South Alabama (23-24, 11-13 Sun Belt) have dropped since Louisiana (March 24-25) and is the first time the Jags have been swept since Georgia Southern (March 17-19). The Jags find themselves tied with Georgia State in 10th place heading into next weekend.
Joseph Sullivan hit his 11th home run in the fourth inning, breaking up a no-hit bid and shutout by Southern Miss starter Matthew Adams. They were able to load the bases in the top of the fifth inning before the side was retired, and again in the sixth.
Austin Thrasher reached base three times on the day including going 1-for-2 at the plate and walking two times, while
Hunter Donaldson reached base with a double and a walk.
Jeremy Lee (2-6) suffered the loss, working 5.0-plus innings in the start, facing one batter in the sixth. He allowed four runs (three earned) on nine hits while striking out four. He was replaced by
Colson Lawrence who went two innings allowing a run on two hits before
Zach Willingham and
Sam Knowlton came on to split the eighth inning.
How It Happened
- (B1) Christopher Sargent singled to center to drive in Matthew Etzel from third after reaching on a lead-off walk before Reece Ewing singled to right to drive in another Golden Eagles run, Southern Miss 2-0.
- (B3) Nick Monistere singled to left to score Sargent who doubled to lead off the inning. That was followed by a single through the left side by Carson Paetow that drove in Reece Ewing, Southern Miss 4-0.
- (T4) Sullivan hit a 387-foot home run to right for his 11th of the season, Southern Miss 4-1.
- (B6) Rodrigo Montenegro scored on a balk, Southern Miss 5-1.
- (B7) Danny Lynch connected on a one-out solo home run down the right field line, Southern Miss 6-1.
Up Next
South Alabama returns home for their final homestand of the season, beginning with Tulane on Tuesday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 pm.
Quotable, head coach Mark Calvi
Same story as yesterday …
"Same story as yesterday, we left 11 guys on base and struck out 15 times. We had bases loaded twice today, we just didn't come up with that help. 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 today, you get a hit, the game changes with momentum swings. Maybe we could have gotten them to do some things differently. We just didn't get that hit, sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. We have the last five weeks, we have been able to get that clutch hit, we just didn't this weekend."
Looking ahead, turning your focus to next week …
"Baseball has its ups and downs. Last week you feel great, this week you feel terrible. I tell these guys that if you hitch yourself to this ride, it's terrible and nauseating, You keep a level head and perspective, and play as hard as you can. If you do things right and work hard, it comes back to you. Our guys played a really good brand of baseball, this just wasn't our weekend. I give Southern Miss a lot of credit, they had their hand in that."
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