HATTIESBURG, Miss. - A fifth inning home run
from Travis Creel capped a three-run comeback for Southern Miss, as the Golden Eagles
downed the ULM baseball team 7-5 Tuesday night at Pete Taylor Park.
The Warhawks posted a 5-1 record against
Conference USA opponents this season, sweeping Tulane and Memphis earlier in
2012.
Southern Miss (15-10) threatened in the
bottom of the first inning, as Michael Sterling led off with a walk against ULM
starter Randy Zeigler before advancing to second base on a wild pitch. Joe Martin sacrifice bunted Sterling to third
base for the first out of the inning.
Zeigler then struck out Mason Robbins and forced Ashley Graeter to
ground out to Jeremy Sy at shortstop to escape the frame without allowing any
runs.
The Warhawks (13-12) struck in the top of the
second inning to take the early command.
Judd Edwards was hit by a pitch by Southern Miss starter Boomer
Scarborough, and then moved to second base on a wild pitch. A Justin Stawychny base hit and a second
Scarborough wild pitch gave ULM two runners in scoring position with one
out. After a Les Aulds walk to load the
bases, Sy delivered a two-out single to right field that gave the Warhawks a
2-0 lead. A base knock from Caleb
Clowers scored Aulds and extended the advantage to 3-0.
Southern Miss responded by pounding out four
straight hits against reliever Alex Hermeling, the third an RBI single from Creel
to trim the deficit to 3-1. A Sterling
sacrifice fly plated Creel to close the gap to just one run (3-2). Hermeling forced Blake Brown to pop out to
Clowers at second base to end the inning.
Hermeling sat the Golden Eagles down in order
in the bottom of the third inning.
Robbins flew out to Taylor Abdalla in center field, Graeter grounded out
to Sy at shortstop and Isaac Rodriguez flew out to Stawychny in the right
center gap for a 1-2-3 frame.
Sy roped a two-out double down the left field
line off Scarborough to keep the Warhawk fourth inning alive. Clowers made the most of the opportunity,
taking a 1-0 offering to opposite field in left center to score Sy and up the
ULM advantage to 4-2.
Southern Miss tied the game in the bottom of
the fifth inning on an RBI groundout from Kameron Brunty, then took a 6-4 lead
on Creel's home run off Fraser Adams (0-1).
Shelby Aulds struck out Martin swinging to strand Sterling at second
base.
Aulds powered through the Golden Eagle lineup
in the bottom of the sixth inning, striking out Brown and Graeter and forcing
Robbins to ground out 4-3 for a three-up, three-down effort.
The Warhawks added a run in the ninth inning,
thanks to an Edwards single up the middle that scored Joey Rapp and brought ULM
within two (7-5).
Sy, Stawychny and Clowers each logged two
base hits for ULM, with Sy and Clowers adding two RBIs. Sy has now reached base in a team-high 16
straight games. Aulds struck out four
batters in his two full innings of relief.
Creel and Rodriguez paced the Golden Eagles
with three hits apiece. Jay Myrick (2-1)
threw four innings of shutout baseball to pick up the victory.
ULM travels to FIU Friday for its first Sun
Belt Conference road series of the season.
