Southern Miss left-hander Stevie Powers scattered nine hits and struck out 10 batters in a 5-0 shutout of FIU in the opener of a three-game series Friday night at Infinity Insurance Park.
With the win the No. 12 Golden Eagles (23-10, 9-3 Conference USA) stayed one-half game back of Florida Atlantic for first place in C-USA. The Panthers are now 16-18 overall and 6-7 in league play.
USM backed Powers with single runs in the second, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth innings. Matt Wallner's ninth home run of the season off
Logan Allen (4-4) in the second inning opened the scoring giving the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Allen went seven innings for the Panthers, allowed seven hits, four runs and struck out a career-high 12 batters. Previously, Allen had 10 strikeouts against Jacksonville State on March 4.
Lorenzo Hampton, Jr. and
Juan Teixeira each had three hits for FIU.
Derek Cartaya was 2 for 4.
FIU and USM play the middle game of the series Saturday at 6 p.m. A pair of right-handers toe the rubber with
Tyler Myrick getting the ball for the Panthers and Walker Powell for the Golden Eagles.
