Southern Miss slams door on Army with All-American performance from ace Tanner Hall
Scott Berry couldn’t have asked for a better start from his All-American Ace Tanner Hall.
Hall pitched eight scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and led Southern Miss to a 2-0 win against Army to open the Hattiesburg regional.
“I don’t think you can say enough about Tanner Hall,” USM head coach Scott Berry said after the game. “Another quality start, went deep into the eighth.”
The Golden Eagles were locked in a pitcher’s duel until the fifth inning when USM first baseman Christopher Sargent drove a double off the left field wall and scored Reece Ewing.
The lead was extended in the sixth when Gabe Montenegro scored from second on a two-out error by the Army shortstop.
Landon Harper closed the game in the ninth, earning his 12th save of the year.
Connelly Early pitched six innings for Army and allowed two runs with just one of them earned.
Hall shuts down the Black Knight offense
Army entered the game hitting over .300 as a team and left with only four hits in 30 at bats. Hall picked up six of strikeouts in the first three innings and did not allow a baserunner until the fourth.
The early strikeouts had the adverse effect of running up his pitch count, leaving the USM staff with a decision to make after the seventh inning.
“We were debating there after seven innings when he was at 101 pitches whether to send him back out,” Berry said. “There’s no tournament after this one if you don’t win this one. So the bullpen, being able to keep it fresh and keeping Harper only having to throw one inning.”
Harper threw just nine pitches in the final inning, keeping him available for tomorrow’s matchup.
The crowd of 5,045 at Pete Taylor Park weren’t the only people impressed by Hall’s performance, either.
“What the Southern Miss pitcher did, he’s one of the best in the country and his numbers show it,” Army head coach Jim Foster said. “We don’t see that stuff every game. I wish we could’ve gotten into our gameplan a little bit, do what we do and put some pressure on them. But they were dominant.”
Paetow back in front
Southern Miss made a key change to the lineup Friday by replacing Montenegro with Carson Paetow at the leadoff spot.
Montenegro had been struggling as of late and Paetow has experienced leading off when Montenegro missed time in April.
The Golden Eagles were 14-0 in April with Paetow leading the order and the move paid off again.
Montenegro had two hits and a walk out of the eight-spot and USM moved to 15-0 with Paetow batting first.
Paetow himself struggled, however, striking out three times in four at bats.
Staying aggressive
Southern Miss rarely pushed its luck on the base paths during the regular season and came into Friday with just 30 stolen bases.
Similar to the Conference USA tournament, the Golden Eagles began moving the runners early more often against Army.
“We’re trying to push it a little bit, trying to get guys into scoring position,” Berry said. “Trying to stay out of double plays. I know that’s our blueprint, unfortunately. We’ve hit into a ton of double plays.”
Southern Miss avoided the double play Friday after being plagued by it throughout the conference tournament.
Montenegro grabbed his third stolen base of the year in the second inning and later pushed from second to home in the sixth on the throwing error.
Southern Miss will play Saturday at 6 p.m. against the winner of LSU and Kennesaw State. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Berry says a starting pitcher will not be decided until after the Tigers and Owls game.
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 3:38 PM.
