Southern Miss Advances to C-USA Championship Game
May 24, 2003 | Baseball
May 24, 2003
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Southern Miss collected its third-straight win at the Conference USA Tournament with a 3-1 victory over East Carolina and advanced to the championship game on Sunday, May 25, 1 p.m. The Eagles will face the winner of Tulane-Louisville game in tomorrow's final.
Southern Miss (44-14) claimed the early 1-0 lead when Marc Maddox overcame an 0-2 count, stretching it to 3-2 and blasting the pitch for a solo bomb over the left field fence.
East Carolina (33-25-1) knotted the game in the fourth, 1-1, when Jake Smith knocked a solo homer. He batted 2-for-4 in the contest, as did Darryl Lawhorn, to lead the Pirates in hitting.
ECU almost took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh. Pirate DH Adam Witter was hit by a pitch to start the inning. After a Mark Minicozzi fly out, Kevin O'Sullivan hit a double to deep center and Witter tried to score from first, but was thrown out in a play at the plate.
Jeff Cook ended a 1-1 tie in the eighth, when the senior crushed a solo blast for his 21st home run on the year. Matt Shepherd's single up the middle in the top of the ninth, scored Matt Benson for a USM insurance run and the 3-1 victory.
Southern Miss pitcher Ray Antonelli came on in relief in the fifth inning and improved his season record to 4-0 with the decision. He pitched 3.1 innings and surrendered one hit, one walk and fanned three Pirates. Austin Tubb recorded his 10th save with his appearance in the ninth.
Once again, the Eagles recorded double-figure hits, with 11, improving to 43 strokes in the C-USA Tournament. Three USM batters collected two hits, as Beau Griffin, who is 7-for-12 in the tourney, finished hitting 2-for-3, and Cook and Brad Willcutt both were 2-for-4 at the plate. Griffin also added a triple for his fourth extra-base hit in the tourney.
Prior to today's game, the Southern Miss hurlers did not surrender an extra base hit in the tournament. The Eagle pitching staff also has not given up a hit with an opposing runner in scoring position.
With the win, Southern Miss runs its record to 44-14, extending its single-season school record. Tomorrow's appearance in the championship game marks Southern Miss' first in Conference USA and second in school history. Southern Miss tied for the Metro Conference Championship in 1991.
The Golden Eagles will face the winner of Tulane and Louisville for the Conference USA championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. It will be broadcast on the Conference USA Television Network.
NOTES: Southern Miss will be making its first-ever appearance in the C-USA Tournament championship game. The Golden Eagles will be attempting to become the fourth team to win both the regular season and tournament titles in the same season.
Southern Miss' appearance in the championship game makes them the seventh different C-USA school to play in the title game in the league's first eight years.
USM pitchers have not allowed a hit with runners in scoring position in any of the first three games of this tournament.
The team that has scored first in this tournament has now won 10 of the first 11 games. The only exception thus far was Houston scoring first against Southern Miss on Thursday, before losing, 7-2.
Southern Miss 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 - 3 11 0East Carolina 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 7 2
