Tulane University
Southern Miss
Early Runs Propel Southern Miss Past Baseball
May 26, 2011 | Baseball
May 26, 2011
Box Score (PDF) | Season Statistics (PDF)
PEARL, Miss. - An early barrage of runs from Southern Miss ended the night early for Green Wave starting pitcher Conrad Flynn and the Tulane baseball team was unable to rally in their 6-1 loss to open the Conference USA Tournament at Trustmark Park.
"Conrad's velocity was as good...but they get a bunt single and (four) balls through the infield," said Tulane head coach Rick Jones. "You have to give credit to Southern Miss. They did a good job in the first inning. If we could have gotten a ground ball, maybe turned a double play, it could have been different...Drew Zizinia did a wonderful job and gave us a chance to catch up, but when you are facing a pitcher like McInnis, that is tough to do."
Southern Miss sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning against Tulane (30-25) starting pitcher Conrad Flynn and relief pitcher Drew Zizinia. Flynn recorded only one out in his 15th start of the season before Zizinia entered. The Golden Eagles singled six times in the frame against Flynn, before Zizinia came on to retire two of the final three batters of the inning.
With the lead standing at 5-0 in favor of Southern Miss, Zizinia held the potent Golden Eagles offense off the scoreboard over the next five innings. Tulane could muster only a handful of runners against Conference USA Pitcher of the Year Todd McInnis and scratched across their lone run of the game in the top of the seventh inning.
In the inning, Cody Robinson walked with one out and moved to third on a Quinn Pippin pinch hit single. Nick Boullosa then grounded into a fielders choice and Robinson came across to make it a 5-1 ballgame. Southern Miss got that run back in the bottom half of the inning against Zizinia, the only run he allowed in the outing, making it 6-1 in favor of the second-seeded Golden Eagles.
Nick Schneeberger reached base twice in the contest, doubling in the second inning and reaching on an error later in the game. Robinson walked twice in the contest and scored the lone Green Wave run.
Flynn (3-7) lasted just one-third of an inning in the start and allowed five runs on six hits with a walk, while Zizinia struck out six batters and allowed the one run on two hits in a career-high six and two-thirds innings.
McInnis threw all nine innings for Southern Miss and surrendered one run on only four hits. He struck out eight and walked two to improve to 8-2 on the season.
Tulane will continue their stay at the Conference USA Championships presented by Trustmark on Thursday, May 26 versus East Carolina at 4:00. The game can be seen live on CSS or on CST in the New Orleans area.
--TulaneGreenWave.com--
