Southern Miss holds on late to defeat rivals Lousiana Tech for third consecutive win

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WLBT) - Off the back of a ninth-inning rally Tuesday night against the Tulane Green Wave on the road, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles baseball squad defeated another Lousisna-based rival Wednesday night at Pete Taylor Park.

“It’s all about wins right now,” head coach Scott Berry said after beating Lousiana Tech. “We haven’t been good at midweek games [this season]. We’re at .500 right now. Midweeks haven’t been our best and I am proud of how we came out, especially after a tough weekend against Coastal [Carolina] and just the grind of getting back at 2 a.m. in the morning. It says a lot about this club, where they are, and where their focus is.”

Trailing Louisiana Tech 2-0 in the second inning, the Golden Eagle bats responded by scoring two runs of their own with an RBI single from left fielder Tate Parker and an RBI sacrifice fly from Flowood, Mississippi native, second baseman Nick Monistere to tie the game 2-2.

Starting pitcher for Southern Miss Nikko Mazza settled into the game on the mound, pitching two shutout innings before being replaced by right-handed pitcher Will Armistead after a total of four innings.

Reece Ewing hit his fourth home run of the season over the right field wall in the bottom of the fourth inning to increase the Southern Miss lead to 3-2. The Southern Miss right fielder continued to have an almost flawless night at the plate, hitting an RBI single to right field to score Parker before he crossed the plate a sequence later thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly from center fielder Matthew Etzel to make the score 6-2.

Ewing hit 3-4 in the batter’s box, recording two singles and a home run along with two RBIs.

“I feel like Coach Creel had an amazing game plan [tonight],” Ewing said. “I just went up to the plate with full confidence... and I feel like everything worked out for me.”

LA Tech was scoreless for four straight innings. However, the top of the eighth inning was a different story. The Bulldogs crushed a three-run home run over the right field wall in the top of the eighth inning to cut the lead to 6-5.

After starting the game at second base, Monistere replaced pitcher Colby Allen on the mound to close out the game on the mound and get the save to stop the late LA Tech rally. It was the first time this season Monistere appeared on the mound after starting in the field.

“In the top of the seventh inning, I went down in the [bull]pen and just threw a little bit. Playing in the field and throwing in between innings; you can kind of get your arm hot, and that helped a lot,” Monistere said. “It was fun! I wouldn’t mind doing that a lot more,” Monistere continued.

Southern Miss won 6-5 to beat a rival school in back-to-back nights and extend their winning streak to three games. The Golden Eagles are set to host eight straight games at Pete Taylor Park and will start their homestead Friday night against Arkansas State.

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