Southern Miss baseball may have found a new ace
With Gabe Shepard starting the season in the bullpen and Walker Powell sitting out the weekend due to a suspension, Southern Miss senior right-hander Hunter Stanley made a strong case in the season opener to be considered the staff ace.
In Sunday’s 5-1 victory over Northwestern State in Game 1 of a three-game series at Pete Taylor Park, Stanley looked every bit the Friday night starter.
He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out 13 batters in six innings. Of his 83 pitches, 61 were for strikes.
It was the most strikeouts by a USM pitcher since Nick Sandlin fanned 13 against Rice on March 30, 2018.
On Monday, Stanley was named a National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball.
Thanks to a fastball that hit 95 miles per hour, Stanley struck out the first five NSU batters of the game.
“We were getting ahead early, establishing (the fastball),” he said. “They were taking some pretty healthy hacks. We knew that going in. The second or third time through the lineup, I started spinning some breaking balls.”
Stanley velocity has gone up a notch in his third season at USM, but it’s a change-up that he believes can be a difference maker.
“That was something I worked on over the summer and the fall as far as scrimmages and practices,” Stanley said. “I think that can be a separator for me moving forward, especially once you get these scouting reports out. I was fastball heavy in the past.”
Sunday’s game was Stanley’s first start as a Golden Eagle after making his first 37 career appearances out of the bullpen.
As a reliever, he was 7-2 with seven saves and a 7-2 record in 53 2/3 innings. He had 58 strikeouts and 11 walks.
Stanley appeared on his way to an All-American campaign in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short, putting up a 1.42 ERA and three saves in eight appearances.
The Hammond, Louisiana, native does have experience as a starter, but it was his performance during the Deep South Collegiate League over the summer that gave Berry and pitching coach Christian Ostrander the confidence that they could put Stanley in the weekend rotation.
As a starter, Stanley dominated the league full of local Div. I and junior college players.
“It’s a little different mindset for me,” he said. “Coming out of the pen, it was kind of blow and go. You give everything you’ve got with every pitch. Starting, you have to know when to take something off here and there and when to reach back and throw one. I think starting all this fall and early in the spring helped me in the transition.”
Sophomore right-hander Aubrey Gillentine picked up the save in three innings out of the bullpen, limiting the Demons to one run on two hits. He struck out one and walked none.
USM’s offensive production
USM took a 1-0 lead in the first on Chris Sargent’s sacrifice fly RBI to center to score Gabe Montenegro, who doubled to started things off.
In the fourth, USM third baseman D.J. Lynch hit a one-out, two-run home run to right center to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead.
USM’s lead grew to 5-0 in the seventh inning on an RBI single by Montenegro and an RBI double by Sargent.
Montenegro was the lone Golden Eagle with multiple hits, finishing 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Johnathan Harmon took the loss for NSU, allowing three earned runs on three hits in four innings.
Northwestern State takes Game 2
Freshman left-hander Chandler Best had a bumpy start and the offense never got going for the Southern Miss baseball team in Game 2 on Sunday.
Northwestern State thumped USM 7-1 with four different pitchers limiting the Golden Eagles to a total of two hits.
USM (1-1) also used four pitchers and the group combined to tie the program’s single-game record for strikeouts with 19. Twelve of those K’s were by freshman right-hander Ben Etheridge, who gave up one earned run on two hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Over the 18 innings played Sunday, Southern Miss pitchers struck out 33 NSU batters.
Best (0-1) gave up four earned runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Alex Makarewich (1-0) picked up the victory, allowing one earned run on no hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Right-hander Levi David is expected to start Game 3 for Northwestern State at noon on Monday in Hattiesburg. USM will counter with sophomore left-hander Drew Boyd.
This story was originally published February 21, 2021 at 5:03 PM.
