Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Southern Miss
Baseball Rallies Late, Falls 10-8 at #22 Southern Miss
4/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 23, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Four Marshall baseball players recorded multi-hit games and Rhett Stafford launched a three-run bomb in the seventh, but No. 22 Southern Miss built an 8-0 advantage and held on to defeat the Thundering Herd 10-8 in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park.
USM (29-9, 8-3 C-USA) received a four-hit game form Tyler Koelling who hit one of three homers for the Golden Eagles on the afternoon.
Marshall's (15-22, 2-9 C-USA) Isaac Ballou, Steven Ross, Gray Stafford and Kenny Socorro all registered two hits apiece in the loss. Every Herd starter in the lineup recorded at least one hit as MU roped 13 base knocks in the game.
The Golden Eagles roughed up the Herd in the first four frames of game one, scoring eight times off nine hits, notching at least one run in each inning. Marc Bourgeois' two-run blast in the third and Koelling's two-run homer in the fourth were the major back blows.
The MU offense broke up a string of four scoreless innings by USM starter Geoffrey Thomas (8-2) thanks to a RBI single from Victor Gomez and a Golden Eagles' miscue to make the score 8-2.
USM got the two runs right back when Mark Ellis led off the bottom half of the sixth with a homer and later B.A. Vollmuth singled in the 10th run of the day for the home team.
Thomas, who's only hiccup had been in the fifth, was knocked out of the game in the seventh. After Victor Ramos was retired to start the stanza, Ballou lined a base hit to center followed by a V.Gomez walk in front of cleanup hitter R.Stafford. The junior connected for his team-leading fifth round tripper, a three-run bomb to left-centerfield, slicing the deficit to 10-5.
MU added three more runs in the seventh as Socorro roped a RBI single and would later come around and score on a passed ball. V.Gomez knocked in the third run of the frame on a sac fly bringing Ramos home, but that is all the Herd could muster on the scoreboard.
Collin Cargill recorded the save for the second-straight game, his seventh of the season by pitching a scoreless ninth.
Lefty starter Mike Mason (1-3) was tagged with the loss for the Herd.
