May 19, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss third baseman Marc Maddox belted two home runs and finished with four RBI to lead the host Golden Eagles to a 9-0 victory over UCF Friday evening in front of 3,182 fans at Pete Taylor Park. The Golden Eagles scored seven two-out runs, including six in the second inning, en route to the shutout.
The Golden Knights (23-32, 5-18 C-USA) were shutout for the fourth time this season. UCF must win tomorrow and have Marshall lose to No. 1 Rice Saturday for the Golden Knights to qualify for the 2006 C-USA Championship. If Marshall wins tomorrow, UAB must lose its final two games vs. Tulane and UCF must win Saturday to qualify for the 2006 C-USA Championship next week at Rice.
Southern Miss (36-19, 12-11 C-USA) exploded for six runs in the second inning to take an early 6-0 lead. The two-out scoring started with a two-run single by shortstop Brian Dozier to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead. After a RBI-single off the bat of second baseman Trey Sutton, third baseman Marc Maddox launched a three-run homer to extend the USM advantage to 6-0.
The Golden Eagles continued their scoring ways with two runs in the third to extend the lead to 8-0.
Maddox hit his second home run of the game and his conference-leading 18th of the season in the fifth to give the Golden Eagles a 9-0 advantage.
Southern Miss starting pitcher Ryan Belanger moved to 8-0 with 6.2 innings of shutout baseball. Belanger scattered eight hits and fanned six for the victors.
The series concludes Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.
Game Notes: Senior Ryan Bono moved into a tie for ninth place in UCF history with his 216th career hit in the first inning. Bono is tied with Eric Riggs (1996-98) in the UCF career annals.