HATTIESBURG — The No. 19 Southern Mississippi baseball team used a solid pitching performance from Taylor Braley and three hits from Tracy Hadley to beat Alabama-Birmingham 8-0 Sunday at Pete Taylor Park.
The victory helped Southern Miss (40-12, 22-5 Conference USA) clinch the C-USA regular-season title.
“That was the first step to our goals,” said USM senior first baseman Dylan Burdeaux, who was still emotional after receiving a standing ovation from the 3,066 at Taylor Park after being lifted with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. “Even though we have the conference title wrapped up, there’s more going forward.”
Southern Miss will face Southeastern Louisiana at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at MGM Park in Biloxi before taking on Texas-Arlington on Thursday through Saturday in its final C-USA regular-season series.
The Golden Eagles, who extended their winning streak to a season-long 10 games, reached the 40-win plateau during the regular season for the third time in program history. They tied the 2004 team’s 40 wins and trail the 2003 team’s 41 by a game. The 22 conference wins are the second most in program history, trailing only the 2003 team’s 23 league wins.
In 2003, Southern Miss won the program’s only other outright regular-season crown and the C-USA tournament title. It became the only Golden Eagle team to play host to a NCAA tournament regional.
The Golden Eagles wrapped up their fifth C-USA series sweep in workman-like fashion.
Braley (5-2) scattered four hits in seven innings, striking out seven and walking one. The walk to lead off the eighth, was the only walk the Golden Eagle allowed in the series.
Southern Miss took a 2-0 lead in the third, scoring on a throwing error and Hadley’s RBI single.
The Golden Eagles added a run in the fifth on Hadley’s two-out single, then took a 4-0 lead on a two-out double by Matt Guidry.
Southern Miss wrapped up the scoring with a four-run eighth. Hunter Slater drove in the first run with a triple over the center fielder’s head. Two more scored on a fielding error before Hadley capped the rally with a run-scoring double.
UAB (23-29, 8-19), which was eliminated from the eight-team C-USA tournament, had five hits. Only one runner reached third base.
“Couldn’t be more proud of our club,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said, “Our players, our staff, everything that went in to get us where we are.
“We’ve played consistent all year long. We’ve asked them to understand that steady wins the race. We don’t ride a roller coaster. That’s exactly what they’ve done…This was a great day, and this was a great series for us to win.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.