HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Little Rock struck first, racing out to a 3-0 lead in the first, but a five-run sixth sparked Southern Miss in an 11-4 Golden Eagle victory Friday night at Pete Taylor Park.
The loss drops Little Rock to 8-7 on the year while Southern Miss improves to 10-3 overall. The win extends Southern Miss' winning streak over the Trojans to five as the teams met for the first time since the 1997 season.
The quick start for the Trojans began with a single from
Kale Emshoff, extending his hit streak to nine games. Following a single from
Tucker Childers, an RBI double from
Tim Dixon brought Emshoff home to give Little Rock the 1-0 lead.
The lead extended to 2-0 following a fielders choice from
Miguel Soto, coupled by a throwing error to allow Childers to score.
Houston Parker then sent a sacrifice fly to right field, but the ball was misplayed by the Golden Eagle right fielder, bringing Dixon home to give the Trojans the 3-0 lead after the top of the first.
Southern Miss responded with two runs in the bottom of the first and had the bases loaded with no outs. But a strikeout from starter
Eli Sievert and a double play ended the Golden Eagle threat. However Southern Miss would add two more in the second and another in the third, building a 5-3 advantage.
Little Rock would cut into that lead in the fifth behind a solo home run from Emshoff, his sixth of the season. But a five run sixth for Southern Miss broke the game open, adding another run in the eighth to propel the Golden Eagles to the 11-4 win.
The Trojans finished with eight hits on the night, led by a pair from Emshoff and Tyler Wiliiams, who added a double to his career total. Emshoff, Dixon and Parker tallied RBI with Dixon joining Williams with a double of his own.
Little Rock limited Southern Miss to just five hits, but three Trojan errors and 10 walks allowed the Golden Eagles to take advantage of the miscues. Sievert took the loss after allowing five runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work.
Cole Evans pitched 3.0 innings and allowed five runs (none earned) on just one hit with three strikeouts but allowed five walks.
Austin Smith and
Gage Trahan came on to allow just one run on one hit with a pair of strikeouts over the final 2.1 innings.
Game two of the weekend series is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. at Pete Taylor Park.
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