Southern Miss survives Tulane 11-10 with 3-run ninth inning

Southern Miss Sports Information

NEW ORLEANS, La. (WDAM) - Slade Wilks and Christopher Sargent hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the ninth to lead Southern Miss to an 11-10 non-conference come-from-behind baseball victory Tuesday night at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

The Golden Eagles (24-15) won for the second-straight time and return home to face Louisiana Tech Wednesday night at 6 p.m., finishing a stretch of 12 of 16 games away from Pete Taylor Park.

Down two runs heading into the final frame, Matthew Etzel opened the frame with a groundout to short. Dustin Dickerson then singled the opposite way to right to get things started for the visitors. Wilks then tied the game by pummeling a 3-1 slider that was roped on a line over the right field wall to tie the game. Sargent then followed with an opposite field homer of his own on a 1-0 offering that gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good.

The homer was the team-leading 16th for Wilks and the eighth for Sargent. It was the third time this season and fifth time in their careers that they have hit back-to-back homers at Southern Miss. Sargent also registered his 45th career home run, tying him with Fred Cooley for fifth on the school career chart.

Tulane (12-29) had erased a six-run deficit, after falling behind 8-2 to the Golden Eagles, behind five home runs which included a go-ahead shot from Brennan Lambert in the sixth and a solo blast from Teo Banks in the eighth to make the score 10-8.

The Green Wave, which took an early 2-0 lead in the contest, scored their first run on an errant pickoff throw at second base, before scoring the rest of their runs on homers, including a solo shot from Gavin Schulz in the second. Schulz hit his second homer of the evening, a three-run shot, to cut the score to 8-5 in the fifth before Brady Hebert connected on a two-run shot in the sixth to cut the gap to one.

The Golden Eagles took their initial lead by sending 12 to the plate and scoring as season-high eight times in the third.

After a flyout to open the frame, Blake Johnson registered the first of his two hits in the contest. Etzel then homered for the second-straight game to left-center off the scoreboard to tie the game and extend his current team-best hitting streak to nine games. After a walk, Wilks singled before Sargent reached on a fielder’s choice that Dickerson was caught in a rundown. Both runners, though, were able to move up to second and third and scored one batter later when Danny Lynch lift a flair to center to plate both runners.

Reece Ewing later added a two-run double, before Nick Monistere pounded a two-run homer to left for his second round-tripper of the season to end the frame.

Isaiah Rhodes, the fourth of five pitchers in the contest, earned the victory and improved to 2-2 after allowing two runs on two hits with four strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings. Justin Storm threw a perfect ninth inning on nine pitches with a pair of strikeouts to earn his fifth save.

The final of nine pitchers, Michael Fowler, suffered the loss and fell to 0-2.

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