Southern Miss cruises to 7-1 win over JMU behind Tanner Hall complete game gem

The following is a press release courtesy of Southern Miss Sports Information Director Jack Duggan.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2023

Tanner Hall Dominates as No. 16 Southern Miss Defeat JMU 7-1 Wednesday in Sun Belt Tourney Opener

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Tanner Hall threw the second complete game in his Golden Eagle career as No. 16 Southern Miss defeated James Madison 7-1 in its Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Conference Championship opener Wednesday afternoon at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala.

The Golden Eagles (38-16) won for the 16th time over the last 17 games as they have now won 14 of their last 18 conference tournament openers. Southern Miss advances to face Troy in a 4 p.m., winners bracket game Thursday. The Trojans upended App State, 10-9, in 10 innings earlier in the day.

Hall, who was voted the league’s Pitcher of the Year, did not disappoint during his afternoon performance. The junior from Zachary, La., gave up an unearned run on three hits and nine strikeouts with no walks. It was his first appearance this season without a walk.

The 102-pitch performance included 15 straight batters retired at one point as well as 18 of the final 19 hitters he faced. Besides his strikeout total, Hall was also involved in seven other groundouts in the contest.

His only blemishes were a first-inning double, a fourth-inning leadoff single which led to the Dukes’ lone run and a single to open the ninth.

The fourth-inning single was followed by Dukes’ hitter reaching base on a Dustin Dickerson throwing error, before a sacrifice bunt by Mike Mancini drove in their only run for JMU (31-24).

With the victory, Hall improved to 12-3 on the season as he moved into second place on the Golden Eagle career single-season chart for wins. It also marked his 22nd career victory, tying him for seventh in a Southern Miss career. His nine strikeouts also propelled him into fourth on the career strikeout chart with 287, moving him ahead of Barry Bowden (2005-08) and Shea Douglas (2000-02).

The Golden Eagle offense was no slouch either on this day. All nine starters registered at least one hit, including three from Rodrigo Montenegro, as Southern Miss recorded 14 in the affair. The double-digit hit performance for the team was the 27th in their 54 contests in 2023.

After falling behind 1-0, Nick Monistere put the Golden Eagles up for good with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth. It was his fourth of the campaign.

Southern Miss then went on to score in three more consecutive innings with Reece Ewing adding a fielder’s choice RBI in the fifth, before collecting a two-run single in the sixth to go along with a RBI single from Danny Lynch. They completed the scoring with run-scoring single by Dustin Dickerson.

The Golden Eagles have now won at least one game in a conference tournament over the last 37 league events.

– @USMGoldenEagles/@SouthernMissBSB –