College baseball roundup: Southern Miss walks it off, Mississippi State sweeps, Ole Miss drops finale
Published 7:30 pm Sunday, March 14, 2021
HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss took its turn at the walk-off finish on Sunday.
Reed Trimble hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift Southern Miss to a 6-3 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette, completing a three-game sweep at Pete Taylor Park.
The Golden Eagles (9-5) increased their winning streak to a season-high five games.
Louisiana-lafayette (9-8) scored in the top of the 10th and again in the 11th to take a 3-2 lead. The teams played under tiebreaker rules in extra innings, where a runner starts the inning on second base. In the bottom of the 10th it was Trimble, and he scored on a wild pitch to tie it at 2.
In the bottom of the 11th, the inherited runner, a single by Gabe Montenegro and a hit batter loaded the bases. Trimble then hit a 2-0 pitch over the right center field fence for the walk-off grand slam.
Trimble finished the game 3-for-6 with four RBIs and three runs scored.
“I saw a fastball. The guy wasn’t landing any off-speed so it wasn’t really a factor in my mind,” Trimble said. “I knew when it got to 2-0 he didn’t want to go to 3-0 and walk me, so I knew he was going to come back with something in the zone. I put a good swing on it and the wind did the rest, I guess.”
Four Southern Miss pitchers combined to strike out 15 batters and issued just one intentional walk. The finished the weekend with 36 total strikeouts and only two walks.
“I think the key today was our pitching staff being able to pitch around some things and pitch out of some things, especially in the extra innings to give up one run instead of the crooked number,” Berry said.
Louisiana-Monroe 8, Ole Miss 3
Michael Cervantes went 3-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored, former Hinds Community College star Andrew Beesley and Michael Holt each hit RBI singles, and Louisiana-Monroe (6-6) beat Ole Miss (13-3) on Sunday to avoid a series sweep in Oxford.
Beesley and Cervantes both singled in runs during a five-run fourth inning that turned out to be the difference for the Warhawks.
Tim Elko and Jacob Gonzalez both hit home runs for Ole Miss, but the Rebels had their eight-game winning streak snapped.
Mississippi State 4, Eastern Michigan 1
Scotty Dubrule drove in three runs with a double in the second inning, Logan Tanner homered for the second day in a row, and Mississippi State (13-3) beat Eastern Michigan (4-5) to finish a three-game sweep at Dudy Noble Field.
Jackson Fristoe allowed one run in four innings to earn the win. He allowed three hits and two walks, and struck out three. Will Bednar had seven strikeouts in four innings of shutout relief, and Landon Sims worked a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season.