University of Louisville
at Southern Miss *
#14 Southern Miss Tops Cardinal Nine
May 08, 2004 | Baseball
May 8, 2004
HATTIESBURG, MS - Five unearned runs by #14 Southern Miss in the first set the tone for a 15-6 win over the University of Louisville Saturday.
The Golden Eagles(35-13, 16-7) took advantage of two Cardinal errors, punctuating the first with a three-run home run by Ryan Frith for a 5-0 lead.
The Eagles struck for six more in the fourth to extend he advantage to 11-0.
Freshman Isaiah Howes pasted the first pitch of the top of the fifth out to left center for his fifth home run of the season, putting the Cards(22-25, 9-14) on the board.
In the Cardinal seventh, Logan Johnson was hit by a pitch with one out, Howes singled and Whiting walked to load the bases.
Adam Mallette, who had walked in his first trip, singled to right making it 11-2. Mallette had replaced Danny Plasencia in the fifth after Plasencia took a bad hop off of his chin and exited the game.
Luis Pardo followed Malette with a sac fly to right that plated Howes, and Mark Jurich then hammered a three-run home run deep to right to cut the lead to 11-6.
The home run was Jurich's career-high 17th of the season, and 45th of his career.
Southern Miss added two insurance runs in both the seventh and the eighth to close the scoring.
Howes was 3 for 4, while Jurich and Ron Braun each had two hits for the Cards.
Justin Valdes (4-6) started for U of L and took the loss, permitting 11 runs, six of which were earned, on 10 hits and two walks. He fanned one in four innings.
Steve Ayers gave up four runs on nine hits and a walk, striking out two in four frames.
USM starter Anthony DeWitt (9-2) was tagged for six runs on seven hits and two walks in 6.2 innings, but earned the win as he struck out four.
The final game of the series has been moved up to 12:30 p.m. Sunday to accommodate U of L's travel plans.
