May 28, 2004

HOUSTON - Southern Miss hit three homers - including a grand slam - and behind the complete game performance of starter Mike Cashion, cruised to a 13-0 shutout win over No. 6 seed Memphis on Friday (May 28) afternoon in Game 9 of the 2004 Conference USA Baseball Tournament, presented by Sterling Bank, at Cougar Field. USM improves to 42-16 overall on the year, while Memphis falls to 29-28.

The game was completed after seven innings due to the conference's ten-run rule in tournament play.

In only his fourth start of the season, Cashion evened his season record to 3-3 while going the distance. He allowed just three Tiger hits and fanned eight.

The Golden Eagles jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead with a pair of runs in the first and one in the second before breaking the game wide open with back-to-back five run innings in the fifth and sixth, respectively.

Matt Sheperd started USM's rally in the fifth with a lead-off walk. After Marc Maddox singled to advance Sherperd to second, Jarrett Hoffpauir cleared the bases with a home run down the left field line. Brad Willcutt then reached on the Golden Eagles' second walk of the inning, and Ryan Frith followed with a two-run shot to right-center field.

USM added five runs in the sixth, highlighted by Carlos Velasquez' two-out grand slam on a full count. The grand slam was the first of this year's league tournament.

Memphis starter Stephen Gostkowski suffered the loss to drop to 1-5 on the year after allowing three runs on four hits in his 1.1 innings of work. Three other Tiger pitchers combined to close out the game, allowing 10 runs, five of which were earned, and one strikeout.

With the win, USM advances to the semifinals and will face UAB on Saturday (May 29) morning at 9:00 a.m.