AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Josh Rodriguez homered over the batter’s-eye wall in center field to lead off a three-run 10th inning and Samford held off Southern Miss 4-2 on Friday in the Auburn Regional.
No. 3 seed Samford (37-23), in its fourth regional appearance in program history, advances to play on Saturday in the winners’ bracket. Second-seeded Southern Miss (41-18) faces elimination.
Garrett Staton opened the scoring with an RBI double in the third inning and he added a run-scoring double in the 10th before scoring on Stephen Klein’s fly out for a 4-1 lead.
Southern Miss had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th after a single and two walks. Reece Ewing scored on Carson Paetow’s ground out, then reliever Ben Petschke got Blake Johnson to strike out and Matthew Etzel to fly out. Petschke (6-3) allowed one run on three hits in four innings.
Samford starter Jacob Cravey allowed five hits and one earned run in six innings while striking out five.
USM starter Tanner Hall allowed one run in nine innings.
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