Jonesboro, AR – Contributed – Arkansas State (15-6, 2-1 SBC) clinched their first ever home series win over a top-10 team with the 5-2 Sunday victory over No. 7 Southern Miss (16-4, 1-2 SBC) at Tomlinson Stadium-Slayton Family Field.
The third win against a top-10 team this year, it is the most in a season in program history, with A-State securing their third series win over a top-10 team in program history (No. 10 Coastal Carolina in 2019, No. 7 Louisville in 2015). With 1,051 fans in attendance to watch the rubber match, 4,771 total fans attended the series, the largest home total for a three-game in A-State history.
The day was commanded with 6.0 innings from Dylan Farley, who only allowed three total hits and two runs on the day while striking out four batters. Farley retired the first 11 batters he saw, with the first hit against him coming with two outs left in the fourth inning.
The Red Wolves scored first, capitalizing on back-to-back errors from the USM middle infielders as well as a wild pitch between to score a trio of runners in the bottom of the first inning. A-State was able to log three singles across the next two innings, all three left stranded before being able to cross the plate. A Golden Eagle pitching change shut down the A-State offense for the middle three innings.
An error on a failed pickoff try scored Southern Miss’ first run, and a solo homer in the sixth cut the A-State lead to just one.
Tyler Weimer relieved Farley on the mound, tossing 1.1 innings for two strikeouts and working out of a jam with the go-ahead run in scoring position. Kaden Amundson doubled in the bottom of the seventh and made his way to third on a groundout, but couldn’t make the final 90 feet.
USM again threatened in the top of the eighth, loading the bases with a walk, a single, and a hit batter, but a wild pitch had the runners moving until Amundson got ahold of the ball behind the plate ad made the tag at home to end the inning. A-State took the bottom half of the frame with a pair of solo home runs from Evan Griffis and Cason Campbell to reset the lead back to three.
Cooper Garrison, who was on the mound for the final out of the eighth, recorded the final three outs without drama, only allowing a single to set up a fielder’s choice to end the game and clinch the series.
Win: Dylan Farley (3-0)
Loss: McCarty English (1-1)
Save: Cooper Garrison (3)
