MONROE, La. – ULM closed out the 2023 home schedule with a 6-2 loss to No. 25 Southern Miss Sunday afternoon at Lou St. Amant Field.
 
The Golden Eagles (35-15 overall, 20-7 Sun Belt Conference) won their 13th-straight game and maintained its first-place tie in the SBC with Coastal Carolina after plating the go-ahead runs in the top of the sixth inning as Rodrigo Montenegro and Slade Wilks each hit RBI singles for the 4-2 lead. Montenegro added another RBI single in the eighth inning and Blake Johnson was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning to force in a run to put USM up by four, 6-2.
 
Montenegro had three hits with two RBIs from the ninth spot in the batting order, while Nick Monistere had four hits and scored twice for Southern Miss.
 
Southern Miss took the lead in the second inning when Carson Paetow hit a soft liner down the left-field line for an RBI double, scoring Danny Lynch. The lead doubled in the third inning as Reece Ewing grounded out with the bases loaded, scoring Dustin Dickerson for the 2-0 advantage.
 
ULM (16-35, 5-21) tied the game at 2 after Jake Haggard's RBI single in the fourth inning scored Jayson Zmejkoski and Zack Floyd hit a leadoff home run in the fifth inning.
 
Zmejkoski had two hits to lead ULM.
 
On the mound, Matthew Adams (3-2) picked up the win for Southern Miss, allowing two runs on four hits with no walks and nine strikeouts in five innings. Chipper Menard (2-6) took the loss out of the bullpen for ULM, giving up two runs on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
 
ULM closes out the 2023 season with a three-game series at Texas State beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos.