HATTIESBURG, Miss. — UC Santa Barbara pitchers held Southern Miss to six hits as the Gauchos defeated the Golden Eagles 5-1 Friday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park. The game drew an attendance of 5,498, marking UCSB’s first appearance in Hattiesburg in baseball.
The Gauchos took an early lead in the first inning, scoring off Golden Eagles starter Colby Allen. Rowan Kelly doubled to open the game, and after a hit by pitch and a single, Nick Husovsky drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. UCSB’s Jackson Flora pitched six scoreless innings to earn the win, allowing three hits and striking out five.
Southern Miss’s Kyle Morrison hit a solo home run in the eighth inning, the team’s only run. The Golden Eagles’s Kros Sivley pitched four innings of relief, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out seven. Chase Hoover finished the game with two scoreless innings to earn the save.
UCSB extended its lead in the fourth with two runs, highlighted by Noah Karliner’s two-run single. The Gauchos added two more runs in the ninth on a Kelly home run. The series continues Saturday at noon, with the game available on ESPN+ and the Southern Miss Sports Network.
