Southern Miss batters SE Missouri to stay alive in regional
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Jun. 5—OXFORD — Southern Miss battered Southeast Missouri State pitching with a school single-game record six home runs to win 21-0 and stay alive in the Oxford Regional on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles led 20-0 in the seventh inning when the game was delayed by rain for an hour and 20 minutes.
Three of those home runs came from Southern Miss first baseman Chris Sargent. Leadoff hitter Gabe Montenegro scored four times and had two doubles among his five hits.
The Golden Eagles (38-20) will face the Ole Miss-Florida State loser in an elimination game Sunday at 1 p.m.
"We did a lot of things right today. There wasn't a whole lot that went wrong in all honesty," Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. "We're in survival mode now. That sense of urgency was prevalent with our team."
USM was scoreless with SEMO (30-22) when it broke on top with four runs in the top of the third.
Southeast Missouri right-hander Bryce Grossius faced just one batter above the minimum in two shutout innings before the wheels fell off.
The next three pitchers to follow gave up at least four earned runs.
The Golden Eagles had 24 total hits.
Southern Miss, the 2 seed, fell into the loser's bracket with a 5-2 loss to 3 seed Florida State Friday night.
The Golden Eagles scored twice in the first and got five-straight scoreless innings from Hunter Stanley before the Seminoles rallied to score all of their runs in the sixth and eighth innings.
1 seed Ole Miss won 6-3 to drop 4 seed Southeast Missouri State into the losers' bracket Friday night.
Walker Powell pitched six innings to improve to 10-2. Three other Southern Miss pitchers went one inning each.
It was the 30th career win for Powell, a right-handed senior from Fayetteville, Ark., and the C-USA pitcher of the year.
"I was glad Walker went as deep as he did today. We've got to win three games now. We'll need all our guys to be able to accomplish that," Berry said.
