Southern Miss tops Rice, 7-4, for CUSA Tourney crown

Golden Eagles get CUSA’s automatic bid for NCAA Tournament

After finishing the Conference USA regular season in second place behind Rice, second-seeded Southern Miss surged ahead early and hung on for a 7-4 win to capture the league’s tournament title on Saturday night at Cougar Field in Houston.

The Golden Eagles (35-22), who claimed CUSA’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the win, put up a four spot on Rice starter Boogie Anagnostou in the first and never trailed.

The 20th-ranked Owls (38-21) had won their first three tournament games by a combined score of 53-6 and two were via the ten-run rule in seven innings.

Southern Miss was the beneficiary of three walks and an error in their four-run first.

Rice responded with a single run in the bottom of the inning when Rick Hague homered down the right field line.

It remained 4-1 until the B.A. Vollmuth led off the fifth to extend the lead to 5-1.

The Owls closed within one in the bottom half of the frame. With two down, Anthony Rendon and Diego Seastrunk delivered singles. Michael Ratterree proceeded to double to make it 5-3. Jimmy Comerota singled to cut the deficit to one.

Southern Miss turned to Scott Copeland in relief of starter Todd McInnis and Rice was unable to muster a single hit in 4.1 innings against him. The shutout relief appearance improved his record to 11-0 on the year. McInnis allowed four runs—all earned—on ten hits.

Taylor Walker led the Golden Eagles with his 2-for-5 effort at the plate.

Rice’s Anthony Rendon went 3-for-5 on the night.

Southern Miss has punched its ticket for tournament and Rice will also receive a bid. The Owls and Golden Eagles will find out where they will be headed for regional play on Monday at 12:30 p.m. (EST) when the entire field of 64 is announced.

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