Blue Raiders Fall to No. 20 Southern Miss in 2-1 Pitcher's Duel

Friday, May 7

Hattiesburg, MS

6:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

21-22-1, 10-14-1

Southern Mississippi

30-15, 17-7

Middle Tennessee

Southern Miss

5/7/2021 10:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: @MTAthletics

HATTIESBURG, Miss – The Middle Tennessee baseball team fell to Southern Miss 2-1 in an incredible pitcher's duel between starting pitchers Trent Seibert and Hunter Stanley. The Blue Raiders (21-22-1, C-USA 10-14-1) and the Golden Eagles (30-15, C-USA 17-7) were both scoreless through nine innings and needed extra frames to break the tie.

Blue Raider starter Trent Seibert tossed a career-high 7.2 innings struck out seven, and didn't allow a run to the No. 20 team in the opposing dugout.

"[Seibert] gave us a chance to win the game," said Head Coach Jim Toman. "We didn't do enough offensively against a really good pitcher."

Seibert handed the ball over to fellow lefty David Zoz with two runners in scoring position and two outs in the eighth inning.

MT center fielder Nathan Sanders bailed Zoz out of the inning by making an outstanding full-extension diving catch in the right-center gap to end the inning.

"We made some good plays tonight," said Toman. "[Sanders] made a great diving play in center field that saved a run, and at the time saved the game."

As the game moved into the tenth inning, the Blue Raiders were able to push across a run on a sacrifice bunt from Brett Coker and take a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom half of the inning.

Southern Miss answered the Blue Raiders and brought home their runner from second base after a ground out to second base and a fielder's choice play to tie the game 1-1. In the same inning, a hit-by-pitch and a single gave Southern Miss runners on second and third with just one out.

Golden Eagle second baseman Will McGillis drove a fly ball into the right-center field gap that was caught by right fielder Cole Escher, but the fly ball was deep enough to score the runner from third and walk-off the game 2-1 for Southern Miss.

"We found a way to score a run in extra innings and if we got three outs, we win," said Toman. "That's been the story of about 10 or 12 games this season. We're very close to being a really good team, but we have not gotten over the hump."

The Blue Raider struck out a season high 17 times in the one run loss to the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss started Hunter Stanley struck out a career-high 16 Raiders through nine innings.

"I give credit to Southern Miss they're a fine squad," said Toman. "We made several mistakes and you can't do that against a top 25 team… Pitching and defense will win you a lot of games, but we just have to come up with one extra hit here or there."

MT will look to bounce back against Southern Miss tomorrow in a doubleheader at Pete Taylor Park. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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