The Associated Press
HOOVER, Ala. — Will Haynie’s leadoff homer in the bottom of the seventh inning helped Alabama beat Missouri 4-3 Thursday in a Southeastern Conference tournament elimination game.
The Crimson Tide (32-28) also got a two-run, two-out single from Cody Henry in the sixth to rally from a 3-1 deficit. Thomas Burrows retired the side in the ninth for his seventh save, getting two strikeouts.
Missouri (30-28) had moved ahead on Brett Peel’s two-run double in the fifth.
Taylor Guilbeau (3-6) got the win after allowing three runs in six innings.
Tanner Houck (8-5) went the distance for Missouri, allowing six hits while striking out eight.
Mikey White started Alabama’s rally by drawing a two-out walk. Then Casey Hughston singled and Kyle Overstreet reached on a fielder’s choice before Henry drove in the tying runs.
Hughston was 2-for-4 with a double and RBI. Missouri’s Trey Harris also had two hits and an RBI.
C-USA Tournament: Southern Mississippi 2, Old Dominion 0, 12 innings: At Hattiesburg, Southern Miss had gone 20 consecutive innings without scoring a run on their home diamond at the 2015 Conference USA Baseball Championship.
But the Golden Eagles broke through in the 12th inning with two outs against Old Dominion in an elimination game Thursday afternoon at Taylor Park.
“Hats off to both sides, both clubs,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “The players, the kids, the coaches, they all competed very hard, and fortunately, we came out on top.”
Connor Barron grounded a single through the right side to score Michael Sterling from second base in the top of the 12th, and when right fielder Nick Walker charged for a potential play at the plate, the ball slipped under his glove, allowing Nick Dawson to come around all the way from first base.
The play ended the second-longest game, by innings, in C-USA baseball postseason history.
“The young man in right was probably trying to throw Sterling out at the plate,” Berry said. “It was do or die. There was no holding (up Sterling at third base) by me, I can tell you, and (Walker) knew that, too.”
Third-seeded Southern Miss (36-17-1) will face another elimination contest at 6:30 p.m. Friday, facing the loser of Florida Atlantic-UAB.
Seventh-seeded Old Dominion (27-29) became the second squad knocked out of the eight-team field, following the departure of top-seeded Rice Thursday morning.
“It’s kind of the way it’s been all season for us, we can’t get big hit,” ODU coach Chris Finwood said. “Their pitchers made the pitches when they had to. We had the right guys up. We just couldn’t get it done.”
USM, which improved to 5-0 in extra-inning games this season, had four pitchers scatter eight hits while walking only two.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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