Brent Mitchell drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the top of the 10th inning, and No. 24 South Alabama beat Southern Miss 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Four Jaguars pitchers combined to hold the Golden Eagles to one run, with starter Matt Bell throwing six scoreless innings in his longest outing at South Alabama.
Patterson Breaks Scoreless Tie
The game was scoreless through five innings. Jordan Patterson put South Alabama ahead with an RBI single in the top of the sixth.
Southern Miss threatened in the bottom of the sixth and again in the eighth, but the Jaguars escaped both innings without allowing a run.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Golden Eagles opened with a triple and a hit batter to put runners at the corners, and a single to right field brought in the tying run. South Alabama got out of the inning to force extra innings.
Mitchell Comes Through in the 10th
Patterson reached on an error by the Southern Miss shortstop to open the 10th, and Nolan Earley followed with a single to center field. A passed ball moved both runners into scoring position, and Dustin Dalken walked to load the bases with no outs.
Mitchell fell behind in the count before working it to 2-2, then lined a slider into left field to score Patterson and Earley for a 3-1 lead. South Alabama held Southern Miss scoreless in the bottom of the inning.
Pitching Staff Effort
Bell allowed three hits in his six shutout innings, striking out three and walking one. He got out of two innings with double plays in the first four innings.
Dylan Stamey followed with two scoreless innings, allowing two hits with four strikeouts and one walk. Kyle Bartsch allowed one run on two hits and struck out one to earn his third win of the season. James Traylor pitched a scoreless 10th, giving up one hit with three strikeouts and a walk for his first save.
“Matt Bell was really good,” South Alabama head coach Mark 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.”
Calvi said Bartsch had thrown 44 pitches on Saturday and was limited. “We went to Bartsch late, he’s our guy,” Calvi said. “But James Traylor did a nice job behind him. It was a team win tonight, a team pitching-staff win for sure.”
Up Next
South Alabama travels to Boca Raton, Fla., for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series against Florida Atlantic.
