No. 18 Southern Miss Wins Series, But South Alabama Steals Final Game with Late Homer

With the Sun Belt series win already secured, No. 18 Southern Miss hoped to take it a step further on Sunday by sweeping South Alabama. However, the Jaguars took advantage of a two-run, go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to win 4-3 and spoil what would've been a second consecutive weekend for the Golden Eagles.

The Golden Eagles got away with leaving runners on base in Friday's 4-3 series-opening win over the Jags, but leaving seven on base during Sunday's game proved to be too much to overcome. Southern Miss was just 4-of-17 with runners on base and 3-11 with runners in scoring position.

After having its six-game win streak snapped, Southern Miss fell to 31-13 (13-8) on the season. South Alabama, which probably needed this game a little more than Southern Miss did, improved to 26-18 (11-10). Here are the biggest takeaways from Sunday's game.

Excellent Start from Sunny

Last week, sophomore RHP Camden Sunstrom pitched a career-best six innings, and he one-upped that on Sunday by going for seven. Through those seven innings, Sunstrom gave up just five hits, two runs (one earned), while recording four strikeouts on a total of 72 pitches.

For whatever reason, whether Sunstrom is pitching well on Saturdays or Sundays, the Golden Eagles haven't been able to close out a handful of those games this season. Still, it had to be encouraging for head coach Christian Ostrander to see his talented sophomore go nearly a full game after challenging him to work on that part of his game a few weeks ago.

Back-and-Forth in the 8th

In the top of the eighth inning, with the game tied at 2-2, the Golden Eagles took a 3-2 lead off an RBI-single from senior outfielder Ben Higdon. Higdon finished the day 2-of-4 at the plate.

Given that Sunstrom was only up to 72 pitches after seven innings, it wouldn't have been out of the question to see him try to finish the game. However, the Golden Eagles turned to junior RHP Josh Och (L, 4-2) in the bottom of the eighth while holding the one-run lead.

South Alabama's Brennon Wright got things started for the Jags with a lead-off double to left field. The ball took a weird hop in the infield and went over Ty Long, who was filling in for Drey Barrett at third base.

Then, after a sacrifice bunt to move Wright to third, Stewart Puckett came to the plate and launched the ball deep out of the park past right field for his second home run of the game. The two-run shot gave the Jags a 4-3 lead, and the Golden Eagles were unable to recover from that in the top of the ninth.

Successful Week for the Eags, Regardless

Although they left some meat on the bone there at the end, the Golden Eagles still had a successful week, going 3-1 with another Sun Belt series win. What will hurt the most about Sunday's loss is that Southern Miss also lost an opportunity to gain ground on Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt standings, as the Chants lost the final game of their series to Texas State.

However, Southern Miss is still sitting in good shape at 31-13 (13-8). The Golden Eagles' RPI moved up six spots this week to No. 6.

Next up, the Golden Eagles will travel to Tulane for their final midweek game of the season. Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more baseball coverage as the new rankings get released on Monday morning.

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