HATTIESBURG, Mississippi -- The Holy Cross baseball team dropped a pair of contests to the University of Southern Mississippi on Friday, March 8.

GAME ONE:

Holy Cross 1, Southern Miss 4

Stats Leaders:

• Evan Blum (2-for-4)
• Nate Wolf (1-for-4, RBI)

W: Walker Powell (1-0)

L: Pat McGowan (0-4)

S: Alex Nelms (1)

How it Happened:

• Southern Miss had a run in the first and two runs in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead early.
• In the top of the fifth, senior third baseman Alex Gionis had a one-out walk, followed by a single from sophomore first baseman Evan Blum that pushed Gionis to third. Freshman designated hitter Nate Wolf had an RBI single to cut into the Golden Eagles' lead to 3-1.
• Southern Miss added an insurance run in the eighth inning off a solo home run.

GAME TWO:

Holy Cross 3, Southern Miss 5

Stats Leaders:

• Peter Dudunakis (1-for-2, home run, 2 RBI)
• Evan Blum (1-for-3, double)
• Liam Dvorak (seven strikeouts)
• Declan Cronin (3.0 IP, one hit, no earned runs, three strikeouts)

W: Stevie Powers (2-2)

L: Liam Dvorak (1-2)

S: J.C. Keys (3)

How it Happened:

• The Golden Eagles got on the board in the bottom of the first after Matthew Guidry had a solo shot to center; they later added four runs to take a 5-0 lead by the third inning.
• Sophomore second baseman Peter Dudunakis had a solo home run in the top of the fourth to break the shutout.
• The Crusaders cut the deficit to 5-3 in the sixth inning. Freshman right fielder Ben Malgeri and junior center fielder Austin Masel had back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with nobody out; Dudunakis had a sac fly to bring Malgeri home, and Masel later scored on a wild pitch.
• Despite three shutout innings pitched by senior righty Declan Cronin, the Crusaders couldn't cut into the Southern Miss lead for the rest of the afternoon.

DUE UP:

• The Crusaders play one more contest against the Golden Eagles on Saturday, March 9. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. ET.

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