June 1, 2007

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

OXFORD, Miss. - Five Southern Miss players recorded multiple hits as the Golden Eagles collected 16 in a 14-1 NCAA Regional opening-round victory over Troy here Friday afternoon at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.

The Golden Eagles (39-21) advanced into Saturday's 5 p.m., winner's bracket contest against either Sam Houston State or Ole Miss, who were slated to play later Friday night.

It was the bats that got Southern Miss going in the first and Troy miscues that helped the Golden Eagles extend that lead in the second, while pitcher Ryan Belanger threw seven strong innings in the contest.

"We played a complete game today," said Southern Miss coach Corky Palmer. "It was a hitter's day and Ryan Belanger was tremendous. He gave up a few hits, but he was always able to fight back and come out of it."

Bo Davis, Brian Dozier and Jody Blount - the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 hitters in the Golden Eagle order - each led in the contest with three hits apiece, while Michael Ewing and James Ewing added a pair of safeties each.

Davis, Blount and Michael Ewing each singled to being the opening frame. With one out, Blount's infield single was fielded by Troy second baseman Edgar Ramirez but the subsequent throw was errant and allowed Davis to score and Blount to move up a base. Michael Ewing then singled home a run before Luke Adkins plastered a Clegg Snipes pitch over the rightfield wall for a two-run homer, his third, to give the Golden Eagles a 4-0 advantage after an inning.

The Golden Eagles then took advantage of three Trojan errors in the second frame to explode for five runs and take a 9-0 advantage after two frames. James Ewing had the big blow with a two-run single, while Dozier and Blount each collected sacrifice flies and Southern Miss added another run on a passed ball.

Belanger handcuffed the Trojans (34-26) by scattering eight hits and fanning four, while not walking a batter to notch the victory and improve to 8-4 on the campaign. The only run he allowed was a sacrifice fly by Beau Brooks in the fourth. Jonathan Johnston pitched two scoreless frames from there and allowed just two hits and struckout one in relief.

Southern Miss then reached the double-digit run mark for the eighth time this season as Dozier delivered a fourth-inning solo home run to leftfield for his fourth round-tripper of the season.

The Golden Eagles then completed their scoring with four more runs in the fifth. Dozier drove home a run with a double, before Blount followed with a two-run double of his own and Michael Ewing finished the scoring with a run-scoring single.

Snipes (6-6) allowed nine runs (four earned) on six hits and a walk with a strikeout over two innings of work to suffer the loss.

Saturday's contest will be televised live throughout the state of Mississippi and is slated to be shown on these outlets including Comcast Cable - Tupelo, Vista 3 Cable - Oxford (channel 73), The CW - Jackson (Channel 34), Comcast Cable - Hattiesburg (channel 11), Cable One - Gulf Coast (Channel 18), The CW - Meridian and WLMT-TV Digital - Memphis. The game will also be carried on the Southern Miss/ISP Sports Network. A webstream of the game is also available through SouthernMiss.com.