Southern Miss Snaps Streak; Beats Bama, 7-4
3/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Southern Miss Golden Eagles ended nearly two decades of frustration against the University of Alabama baseball team as they scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 7-4 come-from-behind win Tuesday night at Pete Taylor Park.
The win was the first for the Golden Eagles over the Crimson Tide since 1987, as USM snapped an 11-game losing streak in a series that has been dominated by Alabama.
Southern Miss (19-5), winners of six straight games, scored four runs on five hits in the bottom of the seventh inning. Alabama used four pitchers in the inning, including senior left-hander Brent Carter and junior right-hander T.J. Large but could not keep the Golden Eagles from taking the lead.
USM put together four straight two outs hits in the inning to turn a one-run deficit into a three-run lead.
Carter gave up a one-out hit to second baseman Trey Sutton and turned the game over to Large. After Brad Willcutt popped up for the second out, Large gave up back-to-back hits and the lead. Sutton stole second and scored on center fielder Jason Lowery's base hit to center. Lowery stole second and scored the go-ahead run on designated hitter David Steele's base hit to right field.
Large (4-2), pitching in relief for the first time this season, allowed two runs and two hits in one-third of an inning for his second straight loss.
Freshman right-hnader Casey Kebodeaux replaced Large and gave up back-to-back doubles to third baseman Beau Griffin and catcher Kevin Coker. Coker's double into the right field corner scored Steele and Griffin and put USM ahead to stay at 6-3.
Trey Shields came on and retired Jody Blount for the final out of the inning. Shields gave up a run on two hits in the eighth inning when right fielder Marc Maddox doubled and scored on Sutton's base hit to right.
Sutton and Griffin had three hits apiece for the Golden Eagles, who out-hit the Crimson Tide 13-9.
Scott and Bentley had two hits each for Alabama.
Alabama (20-8) missed a chance for a big first inning as the Tide loaded the bases with no outs and scored only two runs. Senior third baseman Rocky Sceflo was hit by a pitch, senior second baseman Allen Rice singled and junior first baseman Evan Bush walked to load the bases.
After senior center fielder Morrow Thomley struck out, senior left fielder Gabe Scott drove home the first run with a sacrifice fly to right field to score Scelfo and move Rice to third. Redshirt freshman designated hitter Matt Bentley reached on a two-out infield single to score Rice with the second run of the inning.
"We had a chance in the first inning to win the game," Alabama head coach Jim Wells said. "We needed to score five or six runs, like Vanderbilt did to us on Sunday. I told the team after the game, go ahead, get the big hit and win the game."
Southern Miss got a run back in the bottom of the second inning when Griffin drew a one out walk and scored all the way from first base when Jody Blount reached on a throwing by shortstop Cale Iorg to cut the Alabama lead to 2-1.
Southern Miss added another run on the fifth inning to make it a 3-2, and the results could have been more if not for a couple of dazzling defensive plays by the Alabama defense to preserve the one-run lead.
Maddox drew a leadoff walk and Sutton moved him to third with a hit-a-run single through the right side of the infield to chase UA starter Josh Copeland from the game.
Junior right-hander Matt Downs replaced Copeland and got catcher Brad Willcut to hit in a double play, that included an acrobatic snag and the behind the back throw by Rice behind second base to cut down Sutton at second. Iorg then completed the double play with a throw to first as Maddox crossed the plate.
The inning ended when Scott made a catch up against the wall in left field on Lowery's deep shot to left field for the final out.
After USM grabbed the lead in the seventh, Alabama answered in the eighth inning and left the tying runs on base. Thomley drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on Scott's second double of the game and scored on Iorg's infield base hit.
Cole Basinger (3-0), a native of Demopolis, Ala., was the winning pitcher for USM. He allowed one run and one hit in one inning of work. Tyler Perrett worked the final two innings and allowed two hits for his first save of the season.
Alabama returns home this weekend to host the fourth-ranked LSU Tigers in a three-game Southeastern Conference series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The series opener is set for Friday, April 1 at 6:37 p.m. The game will be televised statewide by the Alabama Cable Network.
The Saturday and Sunday games will also be televised. The Saturday game has been moved to 6:07 p.m. and will be shown in by the Alabama Cable Network and Jumbo Sports in Louisiana. The series finale begins at 2:07 p.m. and will shown on CSS and Jumbo Sports.
GAME NOTES:
*Alabama is playing in Hattiesburg for the first time since the 2000 season.In the last meeting at Pete Taylor Park, Alabama scored two runs in the top of the 11th inning to take an 8-6 win over USM.
*Freshman RHP Josh Copeland made his third start of the season on the mound for Alabama and all three starts have come in the last seven calendar days. Copeland pitched five shutout innings on March 23 against Jacksonville State in his first start of the season. On March 27, he made his first SEC start against Vanderbilt and faced four batters without getting an out.
*Alabama senior left fielder Gabe Scott (2-for-3, RBI) extended his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest by an Alabama player this season. Entering the game, Scott's last 14 hits had all been singles. He had two doubles in the loss to Southern Miss.
*Bush and Thomley were a combined 0-for-8 in the loss to Southern Miss, with five strikeouts.
*Alabama used seven pitchers in the loss at USM.
*Alabama senior third baseman and USM senior third baseman Beau Griffin were high school teammamates and in the same graduating class at St. Thomas More High School in Youngsville, La.
*Griffin extended his team-best hitting streak to 12 straight games with a fourth inning single to right field.
