Southern Miss Baseball Opens Five-Game Road Swing with Midweek Matchup at Southeastern Louisiana
Published 3:21 pm Tuesday, March 14, 2023
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The No. 25 Southern Miss baseball team starts a five-game road swing Tuesday night with a midweek matchup at Southeastern Louisiana in a 6 p.m. start at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
The game can be seen via ESPN+ as well as heard on stations on the Southern Miss Sports Network as well as the Southern Miss Gameday app.
The road swing starts a stretch of 13 of the next 17 games away from home for the Golden Eagles (10-5). After the SLU contest, the team heads to Texas State for its first-ever Sun Belt Conference series this weekend before ending this stretch at New Orleans, Tuesday, March 21.
The Golden Eagles play an SLU team that has jumped out to an 11-5 record this season, which includes capturing two-of-three games at Auburn over the weekend. This will be the 126h meeting between the two programs with the Golden Eagles holding a 77-48 overall advantage. Southern Miss has won two-straight meetings and captured the last six games played in Hammond. The Golden Eagles won 3-2 in Hattiesburg and 9-4 in Hammond in the two meetings between the clubs last season.
In the 3-2 meeting in Hattiesburg, Christopher Sargent blasted two solo home runs and Gabe Montenegro added a sacrifice fly in the victory. Five Golden Eagle pitchers limited the Lions to two runs on 10 hits and two walks with nine strikeouts. Aubrey Gillentine got the victory and Garrett Ramsey threw the ninth to earn a save. In the last meeting in Hammond, Southern Miss captured its school-record 15th-straight victory as a pair of early three-run innings propelled the then No. 4 ranked Golden Eagles. Matt Adams, in his first collegiate start, got the win for the visitors in the contest.
Junior right-hander Billy Oldham (Brookfield, Conn.) gets the start for the Golden Eagles in the midweek tilt against the Lions. The Eastern Connecticut State transfer was a member of last season’s Division III national championship squad. Oldham’s team ended with a 23-game winning streak as he won both of his starts in the national tournament, pitching into the seventh inning of the championship win. He made the national all-tournament team for his play, finishing the year 12-2 with a 2.53 ERA in 16 appearances (15 starts).
Oldham is 1-0 this season with a 4.15 ERA as this will be his fifth Golden Eagle appearance and second start. He went five frames against UNO back on Feb. 21 and allowed no runs on no hits and no walks with nine strikeouts in the 12-0 victory. The Lions will counter with redshirt-junior left-hander Jay Long with a 1-1 record and a 4.26 ERA.