No. 15 Southern Miss scored five runs in the third inning and kept adding on in a 14-3 victory over Florida Atlantic that allowed the Golden Eagles to claim the weekend series 2-1.
Matt Wallner smacked a two-out grand slam off FAU starter Vince Colleti in that third inning that essentially put the game out of reach early.
Colletti surrendered six runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings to take the loss, dropping him to 1-2 on the season.
“We were pitching from behind all day and they made us pay,” coach John McCormack said. “They were locked in and ready to go. It all starts on the mound, and I don’t think we did a good job. We were fortunate to get out of the first and second with double plays, we had let some runners on base, and then in the third, Wallner took a really good two-strike pitch and then ending up hitting one out. They deserve it, they beat us.”
FAU has now lost consecutive games at home for the first time this season.
GameBrowser: Southern Miss (17-4, 4-1) 14, FAU (17-7, 3-3) 3
Moving Forward: Tyler Frank reached on an infield single to extend his hitting streak to 19 games. Mike Ruff struck out three in 2 2/3 scoreless innings. …David Miranda had three hits, as did Pedro Pages.
Sliding Backward: Nick Prather surrendered two runs on two hits in an inning of work. …Dylan O’Conner walked three and gave up three runs in 2/3 of an inning. …Blake Sanderson allowed three runs in 2/3 of an inning.
Key Stat: 6 – pitchers used by FAU.
Up Next: FAU hits the road to face Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
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