HATTIESBURG — Cord Cockrell threw seven strong innings Wednesday night to lead the Southern Mississippi baseball team to a 5-1 victory against Ole Miss before a crowd of 4,022 at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
Cockrell (1-0) allowed one run on five hits and a walk. He struck out five.
“He had a great mix of pitches tonight and pitched extremely well,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “He pitched off his change up, which made his fastball better.”
The Golden Eagles (7-4-1) only had four hits, but they scored the first run on a sacrifice fly by Austin Roussel in the second inning.
Southern Miss finished its scoring with four runs in the sixth. Nick Dawson led off the inning with a walk before Dylan Burdeuux singled through the left side. The Rebels then went to the bullpen to replace starter Evan Anderson with Jacob Waguespack, who gave up a double down the left-field line to Matt Durst that scored Dawson. Tim Lynch then hit a flyball to center that kicked off J.B. Woodman’s glove that scored two. Michael Sterling completed the scoring with a sacrifice fly to score Lynch. The Golden Eagles collected a season-high three sacrifice flies in the game.
Southern Miss pitchers extended their scoreless inning streak to 25 2/3 innings dating back to last Saturday, before designated hitter Holt Perdzock plated the Rebels’ run with a single to center in the seventh.
Jake Winston struck out one in the final two innings for the Golden Eagles, who played errorless baseball. It was the fourth errorless game for the Golden Eagles in the past five games, as their fielding percentage jumped to .972.
“We’ve played four very clean games defensively,” Berry said. “That’s what put us in the loss column early and right now, we’re hitting enough to score runs and aren’t hurting ourselves defensively.”
Former New Hope High School standout Will Golsan earned his first career start and had an opposite-field single. Woodman, Sikes Orvis, and Colby Bortles also had hits for the Rebels (6-5).
Anderson (1-1) , the first of six Ole Miss pitchers, allowed three runs on three hits and three walks. He struck out three in five-plus innings. Junior college transfer Mitchel Babb pitched a scoreless seventh, while freshman John Wesley Ray retired the side in the eighth
Southern Miss will continue its nine-game homestand at 6 p.m. Friday when it plays host to Oakland in Game 1 of a three-game series.
Ole Miss will play host to Stetson University at 6 p.m. Friday in Game 1 of a three-game series.
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