University of Louisville
at Southern Miss *
Baseball Loses 5-4 Heartbreaker
May 07, 2004 | Baseball
May 7, 2004
HATTIESBURG, MS - An RBI fielder's choice by Brad Wilcutt in the seventh lifted #14 Southern Miss to a 5-4 win over the University of Louisville in the series opener Friday.
Beau Griffin's RBI single in the second scored Jason Lowery and gave the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Patrick Ezell started for the Golden Eagles(34-13, 15-7) and had a no-hitter until Isaiah Howes rolled an infield single to short to open the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth Griffin, who had singled, scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0 USM.
Wilcutt then hit a two-run home run to right for a 4-0 Eagle lead.
In the Cardinal half of the seventh, Daniel Burton doubled, but was thrown out at third on a fielder's choice by Howes.
Boomer Whiting followed with a single that moved Howes to third, and Danny Plasencia reached on an error, scoring Howes and cutting the lead to 4-1.
It was then that U of L(22-24, 9-13)designated hitter Luis Pardo worked the count to full before unloading the payoff delivery over the fence in left for a three-run shot that tied the game at four. It was his fifth home run of the season.
In the bottom of the seventh, Jarret Hoffpauir then hit a one out triple down the right field line. Wilcutt tapped one toward the mound and B.J. Rosenberg fielded and fired the ball to the plate, but catcher Ron Braun couldn't hang on as Hoffpauir scored the deciding run.
Rosenberg (1-4) started and was tagged with the loss, allowing all five runs on 10 hits and a walk, fanning two in 6.1 innings.
Skylar Meade retired the only batter he faced, and Griffin Bailey gave up a pair of walks and struck out one in an inning and a third.
USM reliever Adam Smith(2-1) gave up a run on two hits in 1.1 frames to earn the win. Austin Tubb set down all four batters he faced to earn his seventh save of the season.
Burton and Pardo each had two hits, while Mark Jurich saw his career-long hit streak snapped at 12 games.
The Eagles and Cards will hook up for game two on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. ET.
