USM looking to get offense back on track

By By Jared Florreich/staff writer
May 31, 2003
HATTIESBURG Southern Mississippi will face Murray State at 11 a.m. today in the loser's bracket of the NCAA Regional being hosted by the Golden Eagles.
The winner of that game will advance to play the loser of this afternoon's Baylor-Southern University game at 7 p.m. to determine which team gets to the regional championship.
The Golden Eagles' potent offense was handcuffed by Jaguar pitcher Dewon Day in Friday's regional opener. Day pitched a career long 8.2 innings, allowing three hits and three runs while only striking out one, as the Jaguars upset the host team USM 5-3.
The crowd of 4,236 was the third largest in the history of Pete Taylor Park.
The USM offense will try to rebound against Murray State's Craig Ringwald, who has a 5-4 record and 4.04 ERA going into today's game. He has struck out 61 batters in 71.1 innings of work.
The Racers will face USM's Cliff Russum. He goes into the game with a 3.69 ERA and 7-5 record. Russum leads USM with three complete games.
Murray State is led by Geoff Kirksey, who entered the Regional with a .335 average and led the Racers with 66 hits. Kirksey had two hits and a RBI in Friday's 7-6 loss to Baylor. Brett McCutchan, who set a school record with his 21st double of the season Friday, had a two-RBI night against the Bears, and leads Murray State with 54 on the season.