Southern Miss rallies past FAU, extends C-USA lead

Pitching got a little wild at Pete Taylor Park on Saturday.

First, Southern Miss relief pitcher Nick Sandlin hit four batters in the eighth inning that helped Florida Atlantic University score four runs to go ahead 5-4.

Then, with two out in the bottom of the ninth, after Southern Miss had tied the game, FAU reliever Cameron Ragsdale threw a wild pitch on which Golden Eagle Mason Irby scored the winning run to give USM a 6-5 victory.

“The big thing was, even after giving up the lead, our guys stayed the course,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “They believe they can win.”

They’ve won enough that they’re still in first place in Conference USA with an 18-5 record (36-12 overall).

FAU, in second place before coming to Hattiesburg this weekend, dropped to 29-15-1 and 15-8. Old Dominion and Charlotte also are hot on USM’s heels, but no team is within two games of the Golden Eagles going into today’s 1 p.m. Conference USA series finale against FAU.

Kirk McCarty, USM’s starting pitcher Saturday after pitching only one inning in his last start because of a minor injury to his arm, pitched six shutout innings, striking out six, giving up only two hits and walking two.

“I thought he pitched one of his best games of the year,” Berry said.

Southern Miss went ahead 2-0 in the first inning when Hunter Slater walked and Taylor Braley belted his 11th home run of the season.

USM made it 3-0 in the fourth when Jake Vianne hit a solo home run, his second round-tripper of the season, and 4-0 in the fifth when Dylan Burdeaux walked, moved up on Irby’s first of three singles and scored on a Braley single.

FAU got one run back in the seventh, then reeled off four more in the eighth when Sandlin hit four Owls — one shy of the NCAA Division I record for most batters hit in one inning — and gave up a double to David Miranda and a two-run single to Tyler Frank. The wild inning gave FAU a 5-4 lead.

“Everybody has those kinds of days,” Berry said of Sandlin, who entered the game with a 7-1 record and a 2.25 earned run average. “He’s been so good for us, all last year and this year. He’s a big part of what we do. It’s baseball.”

But it put the Eagles behind the eight-ball, especially when they failed to score in the bottom of the eighth and had two out and two strikes on Irby in the bottom of the ninth.

But it ain’t over ’til it’s over.

“That’s the spot you want to be in as a competitor,” said Irby, who now has a 14-game hitting streak.

Irby’s hard hit got by FAU right fielder David Miranda and Guidry, who had walked and moved to second on LeeMarcus Boyd’s sacrifice bunt, raced home and tied the score 5-5.

Irby advanced to third base on the play.

“I saw it go under (Miranda’s) glove and I’m thinking, ‘Maybe I have a chance to score,’” Irby said. “I was running hard and Coach Berry held me up. It was probably a good thing he did, because it’s a long way from home to third and I was a little tired.”

Two pitches later, when Slater was at the plate, Irby scored on Ragsdale’s wild pitch.

“As soon as I saw it hit the ground and go up, I was gone,” said Irby, whose game jersey was torn off him when he was mobbed by his teammates and whose second shirt was soaked by an ice water shower during a post game interview.

It was a wild game, ending on a wild pitch.

As Berry said, “You’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity.”

After that, you can have a wild celebration.

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 6:55 PM with the headline "Southern Miss rallies past FAU, extends C-USA lead."