Catcher Kaden Amundson swings at the Southern Miss pitch in game one of the weekend series. Amundson had two RBIs and a home run in Friday’s win against the Golden Eagles.

Arkansas State baseball made history this weekend with their first series win ever against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, beating their second nationally ranked team this season and breaking attendance records on back-to-back days.

The Golden Eagles were ranked seventh in the nation going into Friday against an upset-hungry Red Wolves team in their first Sun Belt conference clash of the season. From the start of game one, it became obvious to Southern Miss that this series would not be an easy fight.

The first two innings left the scoreboard empty as the opposing pitchers continued to dish out strikeouts to batters and defenses locked up any base runners or fly balls. Both teams only gave up one hit as neither side could make a solid move on the bases.

That was until the third inning came around. 

After moving two runners to first and second base on a crucial walk and throwing error from A-State pitcher Chase Richter, Southern Miss centerfielder Joey Urban swung for the fences and sent the three Golden Eagles home, putting the visitors up 3-0 at the top of the third.

At the bottom of the inning, A-State responded with a run from catcher Kaden Amundson after hitting his own double and scoring on second baseman Lane Walton’s single. Following a shutout against Southern Miss in the top of the fourth, Amundson acted as the offense’s catalyst again with his first home run of the season. He sent himself and third baseman Raul Torres back home to even up the game at 3-3.  

Amundson was the driving force of the offense through the first few innings, totaling up two RBIs and two runs without striking out. Despite his mistakes in the third, Richter made his mark on the defensive end, serving up seven strikeouts and allowing only four hits through 6.1 IP. 

Two more scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth from both teams followed Amundson’s homer before A-State firmly grasped the lead. 

After blowing a bases-loaded situation earlier in the game, designated hitter Aiden Houseworth redeemed himself in the seventh inning. With bases loaded, he sent a hit right up the left side foul line and sent three runners home. Head Coach Mike Silva chose to send out pinch runner Cougar Cooke in place of Houseworth, who added one more run to the inning following first baseman Cason Campbell’s single. 

The last two runs of the game came in the bottom of the eighth for the Red Wolves and top of the ninth for the Golden Eagles, bringing the game to a close with a 8-5 victory for the home team.

In the first-ever win against Southern Miss, the Red Wolves managed to bring in record attendance, packing Tomlinson Stadium with 1,748 people. Evidently, fans were eager to see how the team fared in game two as the record was shattered the very next day with 1,972 people in the crowd.

This time around, the fans were treated to an unpleasant turn of events from Friday’s win. By the time the Golden Eagles played their fourth batter in the first inning, they had already scored two runs on a homer from left fielder Davis Gillespie. 

Meanwhile, A-State’s offense was a shell of itself from Friday. Their only run of the day came in the bottom of the seventh, where Campbell hit his third home run of the season to send himself around the bases. 

With how stagnant the offense played, pitcher Jack Nelson kept the Red Wolves in the game, throwing nine strikeouts with five hits allowed in 5.0 IP. Both sides continued to battle with their defense as neither team gave up any errors throughout the game.

Southern Miss scored their third run in the sixth inning to create a 3-1 lead, but A-State was still within reach of a win most of the game. 

Where things turned for the worst was the last inning on Saturday. After only giving up three runs throughout the match, the A-State defense allowed four runs in the ninth alone. Pitcher Collin Maloney, who had taken over for Nelson earlier in the game, gave up a walk and single, and from that point, at least two runners were on base during each at-bat until the end of the inning. 

Even after switching pitchers twice, A-State could not contain the barrage of runners from Southern Miss, extending the deficit to 7-1. When given a chance to retaliate at the bottom of the ninth, the Red Wolves continued to stumble, with all three at-bats ending in an out to put the team out of its misery. 

Despite the undesirable performance on Saturday, A-State used its last chance on Sunday to prove that its series opener win was not just a fluke. 

Southern Miss entered the game looking gassed, going three and out at the plate in the opening inning before moving to defense. Their energy on offense carried over to the bottom of the first where A-State took the chance to capitalize on errors. 

After right fielder Evan Griffis and shortstop Patrick Engskov advanced to first and second base, a fielding error on a Houseworth hit gave Engskov the chance to put the Red Wolves on the scoreboard. A wild pitch and another fielding error at the next two at-bats sent Griffis and Houseworth home as well, capping off a 3-0 start to game three. 

Both teams eventually locked in to plateau the lead until the fourth inning, where a failed pickoff by Red Wolves pitcher Dylan Farley gave way for a Gillespie run to put Southern Miss on the board. The score became 3-2 in the sixth inning where center fielder Joey Urban hit a solo homer to make it a single run game. 

The Red Wolves decided to start a home run derby following Urban’s score. To tack on the final points of the game, Griffis and Campbell sent two balls out of the park to bring themselves back to home plate. Griffis finished the game with a team-high two runs and tied with Campbell and the Eagles’ Urban for a game-high of one RBI.  

Southern Miss could not climb out of the 5-2 deficit at the top of the ninth, going scoreless to seal the series. 

In a match-up where they came in as the heavy underdog, A-State stunned a top ten Golden Eagles team to further build their season resume after a win against number six Arkansas in late February. As of publication, A-State received its first national ranking from Baseball America, ending up as 22nd out of 25 on the list for week six of the collegiate season. 

The Red Wolves look to keep up their hot streak and climb up the standings as they visit Georgia State for a three game series this weekend.

Categories: Sports