HATTIESBURG, Miss. —  The bats were never going to stay quiet for long in Southern Mississippi, as the UC Santa Barbara and No. 20 Southern Miss Baseball teams combined for four homers and 14 total runs in the second game of their three-game series. Despite taking an early lead thanks to Noah Karliner's continued clutch hitting and Nick Husovsky's first yard call in Blue and Gold, the Gauchos ultimately fell to the hosting Golden Eagles, 8-6, setting up a showdown for the series win in Sunday's finale.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first two innings of the game looked nearly identical to the first two innings of Friday's contest, with the pitchers in control. Nathan Aceves, making his first weekend start for the Gauchos, kicked off his day with a kick change for a strikeout and set the Southern Miss side down in order in the first. He opened the second with another K and stranded runners at the corners to end the frame before the bats burst into life in the third.
 
The top of the Santa Barbara order played some small ball to load the bags, with Rowan Kelly walking, Cade Goldstein legging out an infield bunt single and Husovsky getting plunked. Jonathan Mendez's comebacker bounced off the pitcher's glove and to the second baseman for an out, though it drove in the first run of the game. Then, it was Xavier Esquer with the first big hit of the day, splitting the game in left center for a a two-RBI double. He would come around to score on Karliner's two-out RBI single, another run-scoring hit with two outs for the Cal State Dominguez Hills transfer; he has three two-out hits on the season already.
 
The Golden Eagles got two runs back in their half of the third with a hit batter, two singles and an errant throw, but Santa Barbara restored their four-run cushion immediately in the fourth. Goldstein's two-out single passed the torch to Husovsky, who wrapped his first Gaucho home run just inside the left field foul pole to make it 6-2.
 
Southern Miss hit a homer of their own in the bottom of the fourth, a solo shot to make it 6-3, before both pitchers managed to restore order and put up zeroes in the fifth. Aceves worked into the sixth, retiring the first batter of the inning before he was removed, though his reliever allowed a single and a two-run homer as the Golden Eagles brought Santa Barbara's lead down to one. The lead was gone thanks to three straight singles to start the seventh, with AJ Krodel having to wriggle out of a second-and-third, one-out jam to escape with the game tied. He got some help from a great defensive play by Mendez at short, making a strong home to cut down the lead runner for the second out. There was no escape in the eighth though, as a two-run homer provided the decisive runs for the hosts.
 
UP NEXT
With the series now tied at one game apiece, the winner of Sunday's game will get to claim the bragging rights. Dos Pueblos High School alum Kellan Montgomery will get the start for Santa Barbara in the rubber match, taking on McCarty English. With rain expected overnight and into the morning, first pitch is now set for 1 p.m. Pacific Time from Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with a free, audio-only stream and live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com.