Davis Gillespie’s 12th-Inning SAC Fly Lifts USM Baseball to Series Win over South Alabama

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (USM ATHLETICS) — Davis Gillespie lifted a 12th-inning, game-winning sacrifice fly to right field in helping No. 13 Southern Miss to an 8-7 victory over South Alabama Sunday evening in capturing a Sun Belt Conference series at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.

It was Gillespie’s second game-winning RBI, and the Golden Eagles third walk-off win, this season. Gillespie registered a 10th-inning sacrifice fly which won the contest over Lafayette in the first game of a doubleheader, Feb. 15. It also marked the 31st walk-off win for Southern Miss since the start of the 2017 campaign.

Nick Monistere led the way for the Golden Eagles with four hits with his last coming in the 12th, an infield single to load the bases. The decisive inning started with a single by Ben Higdon, before Jake Cook was hit by a pitch. After Matthew Russo fanned, Gillespie skied a 2-2 pitch to right to score Higdon for the game winner.

The Golden Eagles lead for much of the affair after falling behind one inning in when the Jaguars (12-15 overall, 2-7 Sun Belt) got a solo home run in the first by John Smith, his third of the year.

Southern Miss (20-8, 7-2) then scored a solo run in the second on an Ozzie Pratt single, before Carson Paetow added a sacrifice fly in the third to give the home squad a 2-1 advantage.

Brennan Holt tied the game for the Jaguars, 2-2, in the fifth with a run-scoring single.

Monistere helped the Golden Eagles then retake the advantage with a two-run homer to center in the sixth, for his sixth of the year.

After USA chipped away at the lead with a solo run in the seventh on a squeeze bunt by Ty Brooks, Southern Miss added three more runs in the bottom of the frame. Drey Barrett singled with one out, before Pratt walked. After a flyout, pinch hitter Braden Luke drilled a 0-1 pitch off John Gillis over the scoreboard to make the score 7-3. It was Luke’s first Southern Miss home run and the first by a Southern Miss pinch hitter since Slade Wilks did it in 2021.

Again, the Jaguars came fighting back as they tallied three runs in eighth on four hits and a walk, before tying the game in the ninth on an RBI double from Kyle Morrison.

Ty Long retired all three batters he faced in the final frame to get the win for Southern Miss and improve to 1-0. Brian Garmon (1-4) suffered the loss after giving up a run on a hit with a walk and strikeout.

Southern Miss finishes its homestand Tuesday when they entertain Tulane for the first of two meetings at home this season. Game time is set for 6 p.m.