Jags Down USM 3-1 In 10 Innings
South Alabama defeated Southern Miss 3-1 on Tuesday, but it took an extra inning to do so.
The Jags and the Golden Eagles were scoreless through five innings but the Jags broke that scoreless tie when Jordan Patterson singled in a run in the top of the sixth inning. USM threatened in the bottom half of the inning but the Jags worked their way out of it.
USM threatened again in the bottom of the eighth inning but again the Jags worked themselves out of it. But in the bottom of the ninth a lead off triple then a hit batter put runners on the corners. THen a single to right field would score the tieing run. The Jags would again work themselves out of the inning to go to the tenth inning.
In the top of the tenth, the Jags would load the bases with no outs. Patterson would reach on an error by the USM shortstop. Then Nolan Earley followed with a single to center field. Then a passed ball would advance both Jags into scoring position. Then Dustin Dalken would draw a walk to load the bases.
Brent Mitchell would fall behind in the count but would work it back to even at 2-2 before he would drive a slider into left field to score Patterson and Earley to give USA a 3-1 lead. Then the Jags held off the Golden Eagles in the bottom of the tenth to preserve the victory.
Jaguar starter Matt Bell threw six shutout innings and allowed only three hits while striking out three with one walk. Dylan Stamey would allow two hits in two shutout innings while striking out four and walking one.
Kyle Bartsch allowed one run on two hits and struck out one to earn his third win of the season. James Traylor would strike out three with one walk and only one hit in one shutout inning for his first save of the season.
“Matt Bell was really good,” Calvi said. “They (USM) put the ball in play, and we played good defense behind him. Stamey was solid again for two innings, and did a nice job with four strikeouts. We went to Bartsch late, he’s our guy. He threw 44 pitches on Saturday, so he only had one shot to get it done and unfortunately he didn’t. But James Traylor did a nice job behind him. It was a team win tonight, a team pitching-staff win for sure.”
Bell had his longest career outing as a Jag on Tuesday night. He used two inning-ending double plays in the first four innings of the game to do it.
The #24 ranked Jaguars will travel to Boca Raton, Florida for a three game SBC series with FAU.