OXFORD — The No. 25 Southern Mississippi baseball team scored three runs in the eighth inning Wednesday night to beat No. 8 Ole Miss 5-1 at Swayze Field.
The victory helped the Golden Eagles (26-7) win their fourth-straight game and hand Ole Miss (25-8) its first mid-week loss of the season. Southern Miss also won its third game in a row against Ole Miss in Oxford and the 10th in the last 12 games in the series.
Tim Lynch, Hunter Slater, and Michael Gilbert tied their career hit totals for a game as the Golden Eagles had 12. Lynch led the way with four singles, while Slater added three and Gilbert tallied two doubles. It also marked the 15th time in the last 17 games Southern Miss has had double-digit hits.
With the score tied at 1-1 in the seventh, Lynch singled. After a fielder’s choice erased Lynch at second, Slater singled. Gilbert then doubled to left-center to give the Golden Eagles the lead as pinch runner J.C. Keys scored just ahead of the throw. Chuckie Robinson then earned an intentional walk to load the bases and Storme Cooper knocked in a runs with a single before Nick Dawson completed the scoring with a sacrifice fly to left field.
Southern Miss added a run in the ninth on a single by Slater.
Ole Miss right-hander James McArthur threw 5 1/3 innings in his seventh midweek start. The freshman struck out five and allowed one run. In his first outing against Southern Miss, McArthur pitched six scoreless innings.
Former New Hope High School standout Will Golsan went 2-for-4 and was the only Rebel with multiple hits. Sophomore Tate Blackman singled in the first to extend his streak of reaching base to 19 games and his hitting streak to eight.
Cody Livingston, the fourth of five Golden Eagle pitchers, allowed a hit and struck out one to improve to 2-0. Freshman left-hander Stevie Powers gave up four hits and walked two in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three.
Nick Sandlin threw the final two innings for Southern Miss and allowed a hit and a walk. He also struck out two for his sixth save.
Matt Denny, the fourth of eight pitchers for Ole Miss, gave up a run and a hit to take the loss.
After five scoreless, Southern Miss scored in the top of the sixth on Robinson’s RBI single to left field. After the run, Chad Smith took over the mound for McArthur and got the Rebels out of the inning.
Ole Miss responded in the bottom half of the seventh. Henri Lartigue walked with one out. After a flyout, J.B. Woodman ripped a RBI double to the left-center gap to tie the game.
Ole Miss will play Alabama this weekend in a Southeastern Conference series in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. All three games will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
Southern Miss will take on Alabama-Birmingham in a Conference USA series this weekend. Game 1 will be at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
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