HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss scored three times in the eighth inning to break a tie and go on to claim a 6-3 win over Texas State at Pete Taylor Park on Friday. The result evened up the series and makes Saturday's finale a must-win for the Bobcats to qualify for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
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TXST is now 27-28 overall and 13-16 in league play while the Golden Eagles improved to 36-18 on the year and 19-10 in the conference.
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Alec Patino finished 4-for-4 at the dish with a double as his four base knocks set a new season-high for him. Also finished with multiple hits was
Kameron Weil with two.
Chase Mora drove in two runs and
Daylan Pena plate a run.
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Suffering the loss was
Peyton Zabel (2-5) as he surrendered two runs on two hits in an inning of relief. Chandler Best (3-0) threw 1.2 scoreless innings to pick up the win and Colby Allen worked a perfect ninth to earn his fifth save of the season.
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Drayton Brown started and struck out two in five innings for Texas State.
Jack Stroud threw a scoreless inning and both
Matthew Tippie and
Otto Wofford struck out a batter apiece.
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USM jumped out to an early lead on a Slade Wilks two-run homer in the first down the left field line. The hosts would tack on another run in the third that was aided by a double that hit off the first base bag and bounced into the outfield.
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Patino led off the fifth with a double off the centerfield wall. He would come into score on Pena's single to right center. Cade Maning would be hit by a pitch and
Kameron Weil beat out a bunt for a single to load the bases. Mora took advantage and sent a 1-0 offering down the first base line for a double that brought home two and tied the game at 3-3.
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Both teams had multiple chances to add to their run totals over the next two and a half frames. It would be the Eagles that eventually took the lead on a solo homer by Matthew Russo to begin the bottom of the eighth. They would tack on two more with two outs in the frame for insurance.
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The series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday.
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