USM sweeps Liberty to start the season

BY DIMA MIXON SM2 SPORTS REPORTER

Southern Miss baseball swept the Liberty Flames in Pete Taylor Park to open the 2023 campaign. Here is a recap of the weekend.

Southern Miss beat Liberty 3-0 in the first game of the weekend series behind a stellar performance from the pitching staff. The Golden Eagles held the Flames to just one hit through all nine innings.

“Hats off to our pitching staff. Tanner Hall, Tyler Martin, and Justin Storm combining for a shut out tonight.” Southern Miss head coach Scott Berry said.

Hall got the start tonight for Southern Miss and pitched a masterpiece in the five innings he pitched. Halls stat line this evening: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 5 K, on 72 TP. The one hit he allowed was a little blooper to the mound, which bounced over his head.

“Definitely had the jitters going a little bit, that’s part of it. But overall, we were very excited, and I was ready to go.” Hall said.

On the offensive side, Southern Miss struggled a lot to get things going, and when they had opportunities to open things up, they squandered them. The Golden Eagles had the bases loaded three separate times, and all three times, Southern Miss would strand the bases with them loaded. The three through six holes accounted for 12 of the 16 strikeouts, which is a bit concerning for USM fans. Not to mention the 13 runners on bases the Eagles stranded.

“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty at all, we are going to have to improve on that [strikeouts.] That’s the meat and potatoes of your order, and those guys are supposed to produce, and they will. You got to give hats off to their pitchers too.” Berry said.

Southern Miss fans got a quick first-hand view of the new piece in the lineup that USM added in the transfer portal in Matthew Etzel. Etzel went 2-5, with a double and single RBI to give Southern Miss a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. The hit that he turned into a double displayed his speed.

Another player who was feeling it tonight was catcher Blake Johnson. Johnson would go three for three at the plate. Including a 373-foot home run over the left field wall in the bottom of the fourth.

Southern Miss rallied from behind to beat Liberty 2-1 to win the second game of the opening weekend series.

"Hard fought win. Could have gone either way as you saw. Really proud of our guys and how they held the game there. They have our offense a chance to get back in the seventh," Berry said.

Matthew Adams started on the mound for the Golden Eagles in his first weekend starting role. Adams helped Southern Miss contain Liberty's strong lineup by only giving up one hit through three innings.

"Adams, I thought was really good. You really got to give him a lot of credit." Berry said. "Matt covering those five innings and keeping it to a one-run game."

The game's story, however, was freshman debut, Kros Sivley. Sivley, who had never thrown a colligate pitch in a game, dialed four scoreless innings. Sivley's final line: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K's, on 59 pitches; it was an extraordinary scene, no doubt.

Turning to the offensive side of the ball, Southern Miss really, really struggled. Only mustering up one hit for the first six innings. Danny Lynch got Southern Miss their first hit in the bottom of the third. He was caught stealing on the next pitch. After that, USM could not get a hit off Liberty's Left-handed starter Nick Morgan. After Morgan was done, USM was able to get their offense working.

Carson Paetow led off with a walk in the bottom of the seventh. After stealing the second, Tate Parker would drive him in with an RBI single. Parker's first hit as a Golden Eagle and his first RBI to tie the game at 1-1.

Blake Johnson reached base on an error in the bottom of the eighth.

Gabe Lacy batted him in with an RBI single to take the lead, eventually the game-winner. That was Lacy's first hit as a Golden Eagles

Southern Miss baseball swept the opening weekend after beating Liberty 7-2 in Sunday's game.

After a challenging first two games on the offensive side of the ball, Southern Miss was able to get their offense working with nine hits and seven runs. Dustin Dickerson started the day off with a double in the first inning, to which Carson Paetow scored him on a fielder's choice RBI to give USM a 1-0 lead.

Liberty responded in the top of the third, with Gray Betts coming up with an RBI single to tie the game up at one apiece. After that, it was all Southern Miss. In the bottom of the fifth, after a couple of walks, USM plated a run via a wild pitch. Afterward, Matthew Etzel doubled down the right field line, which plated another to bring the score to 3-1.

In the sixth, Tate Parker scored on a wild pitch to give Southern Miss a 4-1 lead. However, most of the action happened in the bottom of the eighth inning, starting with a Parker home run to left field.

After Parker's home runs, Slade Wilks doubled, and Blake Johnson reached base on an error to which Danny Lynch doubled and brought in Wilks to bring the score to 6-1. Gabe Lacy flew out, but Etzel brought in another run after a sac fly to give USM a 7-1 lead.

Liberty knocked a home run out of the park in the top of the ninth, but that was all she wrote by that point as Justin Storm closed the game out for the Eagles.

If this weekend tells us anything, the future is bright for this bullpen and pitching staff this season. USM gave up just three runs, with two being unearned. Niko Mazza was USM's starting pitcher for this afternoon. He came in and threw for five innings and got the win. His final line: 5 Ip, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K's on 75 TP. It was also his birthday today.

"Niko Mazza, you know what a great birthday he had today and picking up the win." Berry said.

Mazza might be a name Southern Miss fans are not used to hearing, but he will be a household name in the future.

The bullpen continued to shine after Mazza's day was done, with JB Middleton coming in for USM. Middleton is a true freshman and pitched two innings and struck out four with no walks.

All in all, for Southern Miss pitching, they only allowed Liberty one extra-base hit through all three games, and it only happened in game three of the series in the ninth inning. That is pure domination on the mound, which is why they call pitching coach Christian Ostrander, "the wizard."

The Golden Eagles have won every opening weekend series since 2015 and swept in eight of the past nine years. Liberty was the preseason favorite to win their respective conference, so definitely a formidable opponent that USM was able to sweep.