The University of Southern Mississippi baseball team defeated James Madison 10-5 Sunday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The Golden Eagles, ranked No. 12, improved to 37-14 overall and 19-8 in Sun Belt Conference play.
Ben Higdon led the offense with three hits and four RBIs. Davis Gillespie also had three hits, while Joey Urban and Matthew Russo added two RBIs each. Southern Miss scored first for the third straight day, with a run in the second inning that was driven in by Gillespie and Russo’s consecutive singles.
The Golden Eagles broke the game open with a six-run fifth inning. They sent 11 batters to the plate, highlighted by a three-run double from Higdon that cleared the right field wall. The inning also included RBI singles from Urban and Russo, and a misplayed deep ball by James Madison in center field allowed additional runs to score.
James Madison responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, including a grand slam by Kyle Langley off starter Camden Sunstrom. Southern Miss extended its lead with a three-run double from Higdon in the seventh. JMU scored its final run in the ninth on a double play groundout.
Sunstrom earned the win, allowing four runs over five-plus innings. He struck out four and improved to 5-3. Tyler Lutz took the loss for JMU, giving up seven runs, four earned, over five innings. The Golden Eagles are set to host Georgia Southern for their final regular-season series starting Thursday at 7 p.m.
