University of Houston
Southern Miss
Baseball Drops Middle Game of Series at Southern Miss
4/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 26, 2008
Complete Houston-Southern Miss Game Book (April 26, 2008) in PDF Format 
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - James Ewing's pinch-hit, RBI-single in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a tie and helped lift Southern Miss to a 4-3 win over the 28th-ranked University of Houston baseball team Saturday during the middle game of a Conference USA series at Hill Denson Field at Pete Taylor Park.
The Cougars tied the game at 3-3 and appeared to grab the game's momentum in the top of the sixth when senior outfielder Jake Stewart smashed a two-run homer to center field. It was the Santa Fe native's team-leading 10th long ball of the season.
But the Golden Eagles answered in bottom of the frame. Michael Ewing drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position following Keith Winstead's sacrifice bunt. Two batters later, James Ewing plated his brother and gave USM the lead for good, lining an RBI-double into right center.
That would cap the scoring the for night. The Cougars put leadoff runners on in the eighth and ninth innings but were unable to tie the game in losing their sixth straight game to the Golden Eagles.
With the loss, the Cougars fell to 26-16 and 8-6 in C-USA games. Southern Miss improved to 30-13 and 8-6 in league games.
Stewart went 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs and two RBIs, while freshman shortstop Blake Kelso batted 2-for-4 with a run. Sophomore centerfielder Zak Presley went 1-for-3 with a double to extend his career-high hitting streak to 15 straight games, while freshman utility player Matt Murphy batted 2-for-4 in the losing effort.
UH starter John Touchton, making his first weekend start of the 2008 season, collected the loss and fell to 3-3 after giving up four runs off three hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 5.2 innings.
USM reliever Jonathon Johnston collected the win and improved to 2-0 after limiting the Cougars to two hits with a pair of strikeouts in 2.2 shutout innings.
The Golden Eagles managed only four hits in the game off Touchton and reliever Ty Stuckey, but three of those went for extra bases and came during USM's two scoring innings.
The series wraps up at 1 p.m., Sunday. Southpaw Houston Brown will take the hill for Southern Miss, while Houston head coach Rayner Noble had not announced his probable starter as of press time.
Fans can hear all Cougar Baseball games live at UHCougars.com by clicking the appropriate links. Jeremy Branham will call the play-by-play action while former letterwinner Pat Cauley provides color analysis.
Fans always can follow live stats by clicking on the Gametracker link.
For the second straight game, the Cougars grabbed the lead with early runs. Stewart slapped a single through the left side and advanced into scoring position when Kelso was caught in a rundown between second and third. Bryan Pounds followed with an RBI-single into right center for a 1-0 Cougar lead.
In the second inning, Bo Davis' three-run homer to left center handed the Golden Eagles a 3-1 lead.
The score remained that way until the sixth inning when Kelso led off with a single to center field and scored on Stewart's two-run homer to center field.
The lead would not last long, though. In the bottom of the frame, Michael Ewing drew a leadoff walk, moved to second following Keith Winstead's sacrifice bunt and scored when pinch hitter James Ewing lined a two-out, RBI-double to right center.
