No. 28 Southern Miss Nips Troy 2-1 to Even Series

Saturday, February 25

Hattiesburg, Miss.

2:00 p.m.

Troy University

No. 28 Southern Mississippi

Clay Holcomb

Photo by: Lisa Ray

No. 28 Southern Miss Nips Troy 2-1 to Even Series

2/25/2012 5:12:00 PM | Baseball

By: Adam Prendergast

BOX SCORE

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – No. 28 Southern Miss held off a late Troy charge to defeat the Trojans 2-1 Saturday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park and even the three-game non-conference series at one game each.

The Trojans (3-2) had a run taken off the board in the seventh inning following a lengthy discussion by the umpires. Jakob Nixon led off the inning with a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Ali Knowles. Josh McDorman then lined a single into right-center field and the Southern Miss shortstop sailed the cutoff throw trying to throw out Knowles at third.

The umpires initially ruled that Knowles was allowed to score from third and McDorman was to advance to third as the ball went out of play. However, the umpires reversed their decision and put Knowles at third and McDorman at second. It appeared that if play had not been called dead, Knowles would have scored and McDorman would have advanced to third.

James McMahon then came out of the Southern Miss (3-3) bullpen and retired the first two batters he faced on a strikeout and a fielder's choice. Following a walk to Tyson Workman – his third of the game – McDorman scored on a wild pitch to close the gap to 2-1. McMahon, who picked up his second save of the season, escaped the inning with a strikeout of Tyler Hannah.

Troy threatened again in the eighth after Danny Collins was hit in the back to lead off the inning and Logan Pierce lined a one-out single into right field. McMahon induced a pair of pop ups by the next two Trojan batters to end the threat.

Southern Miss got on the board with an unearned run in the first inning following a throwing error by Troy starting pitcher Jimmy Hodgskin. Michael Sterling led off the game by drawing a walk and then scored from first when Hodgskin's pickoff attempt went into right field.

Travis Creel scored the winning run in the third inning on an infield single by Ashley Graeter. Creel led off the frame with a double down the line in left field and moved to third on a sac bunt. Hodgskin fooled Graeter who hit a ball off the end of the bat, but the ball ricocheted off Hodgskin's leg for a single.

Troy out-hit Southern Miss 5-4 on the afternoon led by a pair of hits, including a double, by freshman center fielder Clay Holcomb. Four different Golden Eagles had a hit on the afternoon.

Jake Drehoff (2-0) was credited with the win for Southern Miss after he allowed one run on four hits over six innings of work; he walked three and struck out one. Hodgskin (0-1) took the hard-luck loss for Troy after he allowed two runs – one earned – on four hits. He struck out four and walked two. Thomas Austin worked a clean eighth with a pair of strikeouts for the Trojans.

The teams will play the rubber game of the series Sunday at 1 p.m. The Trojans will announce their pitching starter later Saturday night while the Golden Eagles are scheduled to send sophomore right-hander Boomer Scarborough (0-0, 2.25) to the bump.