Southern Miss opens Sun Belt series with 14-3 win over Georgia Southern
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Southern Miss overcame a slow start to dominate Georgia Southern in the opening game of their Sun Belt series Thursday night at Pete Taylor Park. The Golden Eagles scored 10 runs in the second inning and went on to win 14-3 in seven innings, extending their winning streak to seven games and their regular-season streak to 18 victories in May, according to team sources.
Southern Miss (38-14, 20-8 Sun Belt) collected 14 hits and hit four home runs. Drey Barrett led the team with three hits and four RBIs. Barrett, along with teammates Joey Urban, Kyle Morrison and Ben Higdon, homered in the game. Higdon and Morrison added back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning.
The second inning saw the Golden Eagles send 14 batters to the plate, scoring on an RBI double from Higdon, a two-run single from Ty Long, RBI singles from Urban and Morrison, and a double from Davis Gillespie. Barrett then hit a grand slam, his sixth homer of the season, to cap the inning’s scoring. That blast marked the team’s fifth grand slam of the year, team officials said.
Starting pitcher Grayden Harris improved to 8-1, limiting Georgia Southern (16-38, 7-21) to one unearned run on two hits over five-plus innings. Harris struck out eight without issuing a walk. Harris’s performance helped the Golden Eagles maintain control of the game after the big second inning.
Southern Miss continued to add to its lead with Higdon’s two-run homer in the fourth and Urban and Morrison’s back-to-back homers in the fifth. Georgia Southern managed an unearned run in the sixth and added two more runs in the seventh, one on a fielders’ choice and another on an RBI single from Grant Jordan, but the game was well in hand for the Golden Eagles.
Will Holder, Georgia Southern’s starter, took the loss, allowing eight runs on seven hits over 1 1/3 innings to fall to 2-6. The series continues Friday with a game scheduled for 6 p.m., according to team officials.
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