Camden Sunstrom's Career Day Not Enough as No. 11 Southern Miss Falls to App State

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – On a sunny, clear, blue-skied afternoon at Pete Taylor Park on Saturday, No. 11 Southern Miss was unable to overcome giving up a combined six runs in the sixth and seventh innings in a 6-2 loss to Appalachian State. With the loss, the Golden Eagles fell to 20-7 (4-4) on the year, while the Mountaineers improved to 13-12 (3-5).

After benefiting from some "Pete Taylor Park Magic" on Friday night by scoring four runs in the eighth inning, Southern Miss was unable to replicate that kind of comeback effort on Saturday. For the third consecutive weekend, the Golden Eagles find themselves in a massive Sun Belt series rubber match on Sunday.

High-Quality Starting Pitcher Duel

App State's Gage Peterson is one of the best pitchers in the Sun Belt who hasn't really gotten a lot of publicity so far, as he came into Saturday's contest with a 3-0 record and a 1.35 ERA. However, the Golden Eagles were able to cut his day shorter than he would've liked by forcing him into a 40-plus pitch inning in the bottom of the first.

Peterson was able to get out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam with Southern Miss only scoring one run, and he only got better as the game went on, but a high early pitch count resulted in Peterson only being able to go four and two-thirds innings before App State went to the bullpen. He finished with seven strikeouts with only three hits and one run given up in 4.2 innings.

In his first Saturday start for the Golden Eagles, Camden Sunstrom displayed elite command on the mound by pitching a shutout through five innings. Despite App State getting some traffic on the bases in a couple of innings, there was never a moment where it felt like Sunstrom wasn't in control. Through five innings pitched, Sunstrom finished with a career-best eight strikeouts with no runs and only four hits given up.

Eags' Bats and Bullpen Struggle

The Golden Eagles hoped that Friday night's flurry of runs in the eighth inning of Friday night's game would be the end of their cold spell at the plate, but those hitting struggles continued on Saturday. Southern Miss had an opportunity to break the game open in the first inning with the bases loaded and no outs, but it only came away with one run, which set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. Overall, the Golden Eagles only had a total of six hits on the day and left 11 runners on base.

Southern Miss' bullpen has arguably been the strongest part of the team so far this year, but it struggled on Saturday. After Sunstrom pitched five shutout innings, Kros Sivley, who has been lights out over the last few weeks, came into the game in the sixth inning, but only lasted one-third of the frame, as App State was able to get three hits and three runs on the lefty. Between JW Armistead and Teague Broadhead on the mound for the Golden Eagles in the seventh, the Mountaineers were able to tack on three more runs to essentially put the game out of reach.

Eags Looking to Bounce Back, Win Series

The Golden Eagles will take on the Mountaineers in Sunday's rubber match at 1 p.m. After losing its first Sun Belt series of the year against Arkansas State on the road, Southern Miss bounced back by beating Troy at The Pete last weekend. The Black and Gold will now try to bounce back from Saturday's loss and win consecutive conference series for the first time this season.

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more baseball coverage as the Golden Eagles wrap things up against the Mountaineers on what should be another perfect afternoon for baseball at The Pete on Sunday.