March 9, 2008

Box Score

FULLERTON, Calif- - Southern Miss fell for the second consecutive game at Cal State Fullerton Saturday night, 8-3, in front of 2,003 fans at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, Calif.

"We left too many people on base again tonight," head coach Corky Palmer said. "We had every opportunity to get some runs early but could not get the big hit we needed again tonight"

Southern Miss (6-5) had a season high 11 hits in the contest but could only parlay that into three runs. Fullerton tallied six hits in the contest but was able to score eight runs on the evening. The Titans were assisted by drawing nine walks and one hit-by-pitch.

"We did not pitch very well tonight and committing three errors does not help either," Palmer added.

Southern Miss was led at the plate by Drew Carson's three-for-four game including a solo homerun and two runs scored. James Ewing and Brain Dozier also had two hits a piece and Michael Ewing added his second homerun of the season, a solo shot in the sixth inning.

Southern Miss wasted no time getting on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning. Drew Carson was hit in the back by an off speed pitch and stole second on a pitch out, in which the Golden Eagles had a hit and run on. Trey Sutton advanced Carson to third base with his infield ground ball and Keith Winstead followed with an RBI single right back up the middle to score Carson for a 1-0 lead.

Cal State Fullerton answered in the bottom of the first with a three runs of their own. Leadoff hitter Gary Brown and two-hole hitter Christian Colon both drew walks to start the inning, and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. Brown came into score on a wild pitch by Clark for the first Titan run. After Clark issued his third walk of the inning to Titan first baseman Jared Clark, Corey Jones singles to right field scoring Colon and Clark for a 3-1 advantage.

Southern Miss had an opportunity to cut into the Cal State Fullerton lead in the top of the third inning. Sutton was hit by a pitch and Maxie singles to left field to start the inning. Winstead laid down a perfect sacrifice to but to advance both runners to scoring position, however Southern Miss could not get the runners home. Michael Ewing struck out then Kyle Maxie was picked off second base to end the inning.

Fullerton added to their lead in the bottom of the third as Christian Colon hit the second pitch he saw from Clark deep down the left field line for a solo homerun and a 4-1 Titan lead.

Clark surrendered another solo homerun to left field in the bottom of the fourth to Titan catcher Justin Garneau, making the score 5-1. Fullerton manufactured another run before the end of the inning with Left fielder Jeff Newman singled to right field, stole second, went to third on a balk and scored on a fielding error by James Ewing, for a 6-1 lead.

The Golden eagles cut into the Titan lead in the top of the sixth inning as Michael Ewing blasted a mammoth shot over the right field wall for his second home run of the year.

Houston Brown made his first collegiate appearance in the bottom of the sixth inning in relief of Clark, throwing a third of an inning allowing one hit and leaving with the bases loaded. Jonathan Johnston came in to relieve Brown and uncorked a wild pitch allowing Joel Weeks to score an unearned run from third base, making the score 7-2. Drew Carson took the first pitch of the seventh inning from Michael Morrison and drove it into the scoreboard located in left-center field for his second homerun in as many games and his third of the season, cutting the gap to 7-3.

Fullerton added another run in the bottom of the seventh without the benefit of a hit. Johnston walked the bases loaded, though one was intentional, and a run came in to score on a fielders choice by Matthew Fahey, making the score 8-3.

"We have to come out tomorrow and play better baseball," Palmer said.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow for the final game of the series, with the first pitch scheduled for 3:00 p.m. CST.