HATTIESBURG, Miss. — It took two days, but Southern Miss weathered Saturday’s storm and brought one of their own on Sunday to secure a 5-3 Game 1 victory over Tennessee in the NCAA Baseball Super Regional in Hattiesburg, Miss.
With two outs and runners on the corners in the top of the first, junior outfielder Tate Parker roped a ball into center field that got under the glove of a diving Volunteer outfielder to plate a pair with a bases-clearing triple.
The Golden Eagles tacked on runs in the third and fourth on solo shots to left center by the middle infield duo of junior shortstop Dustin Dickerson and freshman second baseman Nick Monistere.
Dickerson’s blast was his seventh of the postseason—with two coming in the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship, four in the Auburn Regional and one in the Hattiesburg Super Regional.
With two on, two out and a 2-2 count in the bottom of the fourth, the game entered an 1:34 lightning delay from 3:17 to 4:51 p.m. CT Saturday. Southern Miss starter junior right-handed pitcher Billy Oldham returned following the delay and struck out Tennessee sophomore second baseman Christian Moore to end the Volunteer threat.
Fourteen minutes later—at 5:05 p.m. CT—the game entered a second lightning delay with one out and a man on first in the bottom half of the fifth that eventually became a suspension of play on Saturday evening.
The game resumed at 11:06 a.m. CT on Sunday with sophomore right-handed pitcher Will Armistead on the mound for the Golden Eagles in relief of Oldham. After a fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning, Armistead loaded the bases with a hit by pitch and a walk—and hit another batter to plate the first run for the Volunteers.
Southern Miss turned to junior left-handed pitcher Justin Storm, who got the Golden Eagles out of the inning with the lead—but not before conceding a two-RBI single to Tennessee redshirt sophomore outfielder Jared Dickey to make it 4-3.
Parker shot a leadoff double into left in the top of the sixth, advanced to third on a sacrifice fly to the right field warning track by senior third baseman Danny Lynch and scored when sophomore outfielder Carson Paetow beat out a double play attempt on a slow roller to second to extend Southern Miss’ lead to 5-3.
Storm conceded just one hit over the final four frames to close out the 5-3 win for the Golden Eagles.
Game 2 will begin at 2 p.m. CT on Sunday and will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN, as Southern Miss looks to punch its ticket to the College World Series for the second time in program history (2009).