HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss starting pitcher Mike Cashion pitched five innings, giving up one run on six hits, Michael Ewing hit a two-run single in the second inning and Trey Cuevas hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to lead the Golden Eagles to a 4-2 win over No. 13 Ole Miss at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field in front of 5,132.
Cashion (1-0) earned his first win since defeating Memphis on April 1, 2005, before sustaining a season-ending elbow injury the next week at East Carolina. He threw 86 pitches, walked three batters and struck out one. Jared Cavenaugh pitched two innings of relief, giving up one hit, two walks and struck out three batters. Tyler Conn (4) earned his fourth save of the season, giving up one unearned run on two hits and struck out one batter.
Ole Miss starter Brett Buckvich (4-2) was credited with the loss, pitching three innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on two hits, walking four and striking out three batters. Four Rebel pitchers walked eight batters and struck out five.
Southern Miss (21-13) scored four runs on five hits and committed one error, while Ole Miss (24-11) scored two runs on nine hits. The Rebels left 12 runners stranded and the Golden Eagles left 10 runners on base.
Southern Miss hosts Conference USA foe Tulane as part of EagleFest Weekend on April 13-15 at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field. Ole Miss will travel to Baton Rouge to face LSU in Southeastern Conference action.
Ole Miss recap
Southern Miss recap
Tulane 5, Louisiana 4
METAIRIE, La. – Junior second baseman Brad Emaus and sophomore right fielder Warren McFadden had three hits apiece and the pair combined to provide the game’s winning run as the Tulane University baseball team used the come-back attack to defeat Louisiana, 5-4, Wednesday evening at Zephyr Field.
The Ragin’ Cajuns jumped on Tulane starter Matt Goebel for four runs in the top of the second, but the senior right-hander settled down to pitch four shutout innings the rest of his outing. The Green Wave offense, meanwhile, plated single runs in the second and fourth innings, two in the fifth and another in the sixth to pull out the victory.
With the win, Tulane improves to 25-10 on the year and is now 7-4 against teams from the state of Louisiana in 2007. Louisiana, meanwhile, falls to 26-8. The Green Wave travel to Southern Miss for a C-USA series this weekend, while the Ragin’ Cajuns hit the road to face defending league champion Troy in a Sun Belt series.
Rice 13, Lamar 4
BEAUMONT, Tex. — Every Rice starter collected a base hit by the fourth inning on the way to a season-high 20 hits, including a grand slam home run by junior first baseman Joe Savery, on the way to a convincing 13-4 road victory over Lamar Wednesday evening at Vincent-Beck Stadium in Beaumont.
Rice jumped on the scoreboard for eight early runs. In the first inning junior Tyler Henley knocked a two-out single into left field and was able to score easily on a triple to right-center by Savery. Savery then scored on Jordan Dodson’s double to left-center and the Owls had two runs in the first inning of game for the first time since late February.
The Owls improved to 27-10 on the season with the team’s eighth win in a row. Lamar fell to 22-15 overall.
The road swing continues for Rice. The Owls next face crosstown rival Houston in a three-game Conference USA weekend series April 13-15 at UH’s Cougar Field. Lamar travels to Sam Houston State for a Southland Conference series this weekend.
Murray State 7, Memphis 6
Memphis reliever Will Hudgens struck out a career-high eight batters and held Murray State hitless in five innings of work, but the Tigers were unable to overcome an early 6-2 deficit as they suffered a 7-6 loss to Murray State Wednesday night at Nat Buring Stadium. The loss was just the second of the year for Memphis when playing at home.
Memphis scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but left the tying run stranded on third.
Both teams return to action this weekend with conference series. Memphis (19-14) will travel to Birmingham to face UAB in C-USA action. Murray State (9-21) will host Eastern Kentucky in an OVC series.
Murray State recap
Memphis recap
East Carolina 3, UNC Wilmington 2
WILMINGTON, N.C. – Ryan Wood’s RBI single in the top of the ninth scored Brandon Henderson and gave East Carolina a 3-2 win over in-state rival UNC Wilmington Wednesday night at Brooks Field.
Henderson singled down the left field line with one out and then moved into scoring position on his fourth stolen base of the year, setting up the game-winning hit for the Pirates (22-12).
Shane Mathews picked up his league-leading ninth save after working the ninth inning where he allowed one hit. Josh Ruhlman notched his second win and improved to 2-0 after working 1 2/3 innings where he retired all five batters he faced. Freshman right-hander Mike Anderson tossed a career-best 6 1/3 innings allowing two runs on three hits with two punch-outs and one walk before giving way to Mike Flye, who faced one batter, then was replaced by Ruhlman in the seventh.
UNCW (16-20) reliever Allen Flood suffered the loss after working just two-third’s of an inning where he allowed the game-winning run on two hits. Starter Andrew Morgan worked a career-best 5 1/3 innings, struck out a career-high five batters, surrendered one run (unearned) on four hits while walking one before giving way to Jessee Haney. Haney came in with runners on the corner in the sixth and got Henderson to ground into an inning ending 1-6-3 double-play. Haney finished the game allowing one run (earned) on one hit in 2 2/3 innings with two strikeouts. Flood replaced Haney in the ninth before being replaced himself by Larry Salefsky ( 1/3 IP).
The Pirates will stay on the road this weekend when they travel Charleston, WVa. to take on Marshall in a three-game Conference USA series at Appalachian Power Park. UNCW travels to Delaware for a CAA series.
UAB-Kennesaw State postponed to April 23.
