Homers lift Southern Miss past Northeastern
Southern Miss opened the baseball season on a good note Friday, beating the Northeastern Huskies 9-4 at Pete Taylor Park.
And if anyone wondered whether Golden Eagle junior third baseman Taylor Braley, who hit 10 home runs in 28 games last year before suffering a season-ending knee injury, was OK, those fears have been put to rest.
Braley hit two home runs and first baseman Dylan Burdeaux belted a three-run homer in the sixth inning that gave Southern Miss command of the game.
“Honestly, (Braley) hasn’t performed very well at the plate up until now,” said USM coach Scott Berry, who won his 250th game Friday. “I think more than anything, it’s just been a timing issue. That timing’s been off, up until today.
“He’s just a game player. He’s one of those guys that can really flip that switch when it’s game time.”
The switch was on Friday, but Braley admitted he hadn’t been sharp in the preseason.
“It definitely felt really good to pick up where I left off,” Braley said. “I really hadn’t done good at all in the fall or in the spring. I guess being in a game situation kind of helped out.
“I’m not going to say I was trying to (hit homers), but I’m not going to be surprised by it. It was fun.”
Braley, who drove in three runs, and Burdeaux, who drove in four, weren’t the only stars in the opener.
Starting pitcher Hayden Roberts, after struggling a little and giving up a run in the first inning, settled down to strike out 11 in five innings pitched.
Reliever Stevie Powers came on in the sixth and pitched well.
Former Gulfport High star Daniel Keating, the designated hitter for the Eagles, walked twice, stole two bases and scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning.
Freshman center fielder Matt Wallner hit the first college pitch he ever saw about 380 feet on a rope to center field for a double.
And left fielder Hunter Slater threw a Northeastern runner out at the plate when the game was tied.
“I thought we played very solid,” Berry said.
The Massachusetts team scored one run in the first inning but the Eagles put three on the scoreboard in the third. Then Northeastern tied the game 3-3 in the fourth, and it stayed that way until the Golden Eagles, with a lot of help from Burdeaux, scored four in the sixth to take command.
Keating led off with a walk, stole second and went to third on an error. Then he scored the go-ahead run on a single to center by Storme Cooper. After that, Burdeaux saw a fastball up in the strike zone and put it over the left-field wall for a 7-3 USM lead.
“Finally, we got runners in scoring position and we came up with big hits.”
The second game of the three-game series will be at 1 p.m. Saturday. The final game of the series will be at 1 p.m. Sunday.
This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Homers lift Southern Miss past Northeastern."