— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Put one in the signature win column for Marshall baseball.
Tyler Kamerer belted a three-run triple in the bottom of the sixth inning, then popped up quickly from the slide and raced home when the Southern Miss defense misplayed the relay from the outfield for the go-ahead run for a 4-3 lead.
Moments earlier, the No. 13 Golden Eagles had scored three times in the top of the sixth off left-hander Bryce Blevins to lead. Blevins helped that outburst when he threw high and wide of second on a force attempt off a bunt by Joey Urban. Blevins settled down from that point and finished with a five-hitter, six strikeouts and just one walk to get the win by that 4-3 margin and even his record at 3-3.
Herd coach Greg Beals, Kamerer and Blevins downplayed a bit the significance of the win against a team that leads the overall series 43-12. The outcome ended the Southern Miss win streak in this series at 11.
“Honestly it’s not about taking down (Southern Miss). That’s a good Southern Miss team,” Beals said. “It’s more about how guys played tonight, the competitiveness, the toughness they showed against a good team, a good pitcher.”
J.B. Middleton started for Southern Miss (21-9, 7-3 Sun Belt) and went 5 1/3 innings. He walked A.J. Havrilla and Maika Niu to start the sixth, then fanned Ethan Murdoch. He then hit Elijah Vogelsong with a pitch to load the bases. Colby Allen got summoned from the bullpen and Kamerer greeted him with a bases-clearing blast to right center. When the visitors muffed the relay from the outfield, Kamerer popped up and raced home with the go-ahead run on a cool Friday night at Jack Cook Field. The Herd (15-15, 4-6) made the most of its two hits and Southern Miss error.
“Bryce Blevins pitched his tail off,” Beals said. “His pitch count went up a little bit higher than what we ideally liked. No way were we going to change the tempo of the game. He had control of the game and we rode him to the finish line. They had the inning where the leadoff guy walked and we didn’t execute some bunt stuff. We responded right back. We had two walks and they were two tough at-bats. They ran the count full and set things up.
“Tyler came up with big hit. He slides into third and we’ve got to get him up and get going. It was a fluke play in a relay situation. It’s about taking advantage of the mistake there. Where my mind was Bryce was in control of the tempo of the game. He’s a great competitor. We respond and play like him. We’ll get the game thing out of Griffin Miller tomorrow.”
Kamerer said he had an idea of the pitch he’d get from Allen.
“He got up in the count,” Kamerer said. “I saw a couple of sliders. I knew he’d come with a fastball. I just had to stay through it. Things worked out. I was out of breath (at third), but I’ll take it. I don’t look at that stuff (rankings). We go out there and compete. Bryce pitched a helluva game. He’s a great competitor. I love playing defense behind him. Put this one behind us. We’re not satisfied. We want more.”
Southern Miss entered the game tied with Troy in the Sun Belt in hits with 290. Blevins held the Golden Eagles in check except for the sixth. Tucker Stockman started with a walk, Urban laid down a bunt and Blevins tried to get Stockman at second, but his throw pulled Maika Niu off the bag. Jake Cook followed with bunt single to lead the bases. Nick Monistere then ripped a 2-run single up the middle for a 2-0 lead. Matthew Russo came through with a sacrifice fly to left for the third run.
Then Marshall followed with its big at-bat. In the ninth, Blevins got a mound visit from Herd pitching coach Taylor Sandefur. After the chat, Blevins stayed in and finished his gem.
“I needed a little breather,” Blevins said. “They got a base knock and did what they’re supposed to do. I felt I needed a breather and he came out. I had to execute one more pitch. That’s a big win. I threw good pitches all night. My three (pitches) were working. We had a couple of errors, I had one off the bunt, but I knew the offense would come through. You’ve got to score runs and my offense came through. On the force at second, I tried to make too big of a play instead of getting one out. In the end, a win’s a win. It’s not the start we wanted, but we’re family and together we came through.”
Weather has forced a schedule change for the final two games in this Sun Belt Conference series. The teams will play two on Saturday. Start time for the first game is noon. The second game will follow after a break. Both games will go nine innings.
Prior to Friday, Southern Miss played the road games against Marshall in Charleston first and later in Beckley. In those days, both teams competed in Conference USA and the Herd called those two cities home. Both are in the Sun Belt now and the Herd made the trip to Hattiesburg, Miss., last season for the three-game series. Before Friday, the Herd’s last win over the Golden Eagles came on March 24, 2017 in Hattiesburg.