Box Score UNO-USM Box Score
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – No. 25 Southern Mississippi took advantage of three errors to score nine unearned runs in the fifth inning, defeating the University of New Orleans 11-0 in a game delayed 90 minutes by rain on Friday night at Pete Taylor Park.
USM (25-8) starter Todd McInnis (6-1) did not yield a run to UNO (3-30) in seven innings while allowing just seven hits to the visiting squad. Josh Thomason pitched the final two innings of the contest for the Golden Eagles.
The duo of McInnis and Thomason helped USM hold the Privateers off the scoreboard for the school-record seventh time this year in just 33 games. The mark broke the school-record of six established in 39 games in 1971 and 55 games in 2004.
The Golden Eagles were silenced offensively by Privateer starter Zach Kelt (1-7) for the first four innings before USM put a big crooked number on the scoreboard in the fifth.
Back-to-back errors by the left side of the Privateer infield allowed the Golden Eagles to turn two, if not three potential outs into baserunners. The second of the two miscues allowed the first pair of USM runs.
The Golden Eagles added another run before the third UNO error of the inning put two more runners in scoring position for Adam Doleac, who hit a two-run single. Doleac scored later in the frame when Ashley Graeter hit a grand slam to cap the nine-run inning.
Kelt departed after the frame, having allowed nine runs – none of which were earned – on eight hits, while walking two in his five innings of work.
USM added their 10th run of the game in the seventh inning, again assisted by a UNO error – the guests' fourth of the game – on what would have been the final out of the frame. The Golden Eagles scored their lone earned run in the eighth when Isaac Rodriguez singled home Jared Bales.
Rodriguez and Bales joined USM teammates Graeter and Mark Ellis with at least two hits. Graeter finished the game 2-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs with Ellis scoring three runs after a 2-for-3 performance.
UNO was led offensively by Michael Tedesco and Jake Palmisano. Both players were 2-for-4 in the game with Palmisano extending his hitting streak to seven games.
The two teams will continue their series on Saturday at 2 p.m. before concluding on Sunday at 1 p.m. The remaining two games can be followed via live stats, video and audio at SouthernMiss.com.
