Southern Miss grabs midweek win against Southeastern Louisiana

Published 8:02 am Wednesday, April 10, 2024

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Southern Miss’ pitching staff came up aces on Tuesday night.

Four USM pitchers combined to allow one run — none after the third inning — and totaled 10 strikeouts as the Golden Eagles beat Southeastern Louisiana 5-1 in a midweek game at Pete Taylor Park.

Chandler Best, the first of three relievers, pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the victory. Kros Sivley closed the game with 3 2/3 scoreless innings for his third save of the season.

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Drew Druckenmiller had five strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings in his first college start, and Peyton Lacy pitched one-third of an inning.

Southeastern Louisiana (19-14) had 11 hits, but left 12 runners on base. Southern Miss’ hitters, meanwhile, cashed in enough opportunities to grab the lead and keep it.

The Golden Eagles (21-12) had five doubles among their 11 hits, including an RBI double from Nolan Tucker in the second inning that made it 2-0.

Davis Gillespie and Carson Paetow also hit RBI singles. Paetow’s hit was part of a three-run rally in the seventh inning that pushed Southern Miss’ lead to 5-1. Paetow scored on a passed ball and finished 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored.

Dalton McIntyre was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored for Southern Miss, and Gillespie had two hits. McIntyre leads the Sun Belt Conference with a .430 batting average and has a nine-game hitting streak.

Jake Killingsworth had three hits for Southeastern Louisiana, including an RBI double in the third inning.

Southern Miss avenged a walk-off loss to the Lions last week, and bounced back after dropping its series finale at South Alabama on Sunday.

Southern Miss will travel to Atlanta this weekend to play Georgia State in a Sun Belt series. The first game is Friday at 5 p.m., and all three games will be streamed on ESPN+.