May 20, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss scored four runs in the first and 10 in the second inning to jump on visiting UCF early en route to an 18-3 victory Saturday afternoon before 3,303 fans at Pete Taylor Park. The loss ended UCF's season as the Golden Knights (23-33, 5-19 C-USA) failed to qualify for the 2006 Conference USA Championship.
For the third straight game, Southern Miss (37-19, 13-11 C-USA) scored first with four runs in the first inning. Catcher Kevin Coker lined a single through the left side with the bases loaded to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead. Right fielder Jody Blount was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in the third run of the frame and first baseman Bo Davis had one RBI on a sacrifice fly as the Golden Eagles sent nine batters to the plate.
A disastrous second inning for the Golden Knights put the game out of reach. The Golden Eagles scored 10 runs on eight hits along with four costly UCF errors that led to seven unearned runs for USM. The Golden Eagles led 14-0 and totaled 12 hits after two innings of play.
UCF starter Tim Bascom (5-6) had the shortest start of his career. The junior pitched one inning-plus and yielded six runs on six hits in a losing effort.
Southern Miss starter Cliff Russum held UCF to three runs on five hits with two strikeouts in 5.2 innings of work for the win. The senior moved to 7-5 on the season on Senior Day for the Golden Eagles.
Trailing 15-0 in the fourth, UCF scored its first run since Thursday's series opener on a solo home run by senior catcher Ryan Bono. Bono hit his team-leading sixth homer of the season to right field for the Golden Knights. Freshman left fielder Chadd Hartman later followed with a two-run homer in the frame to close the deficit to 15-3. The home run was the second of the series for Hartman.
Game Notes: Senior catcher Ryan Bono closed out his standout career for the Golden Knights Saturday. Bono ended his career in the top 10 annals for hits (217/9th), RBI (134/10th), doubles (52/4th), games played (225/T-7th), at-bats (722/7th) and hit by pitch (50/1st).