HATTIESBURG, Miss. – App State baseball paired clutch pitching with timely hitting to take down No. 11 Southern Miss 6-2 on Saturday for the Mountaineers first ranked victory of the season.
The win over the Golden Eagles (20-7, 4-4) gives the Mountaineers (13-12, 3-5) at least one ranked win in three of the past four seasons and marks the highest ranked victory since defeating No. 8 Coastal Carolina on May 5, 2023, in Conway.
Steven Smith led the way with a career-high four-hit game at the plate, while the pitching staff combined to strike out 11 batters in the ballgame and allowed just three hits after the second inning. They limited the Golden Eagles to just 1-for-10 with two outs and 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Trailing 1-0 when the sixth inning began, the App State offense posted back-to-back three-run frames.
Riley Luft opened the sixth with a single to left and
Ethan Puig followed with an infield hit. Two batters later,
Jalen Seward lined a double down the left field line to tie the score at 1-1. With two outs in the inning,
Jake Mummau delivered a go-ahead two-run double down the right field line to put the Mountaineers in front 3-1, a lead they would not relinquish.
App State loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh inning on a single from Smith, a walk to
Tank Yaghoubi and a hit by pitch to put Luft aboard. Puig tacked on a run with a sacrifice fly and then with two outs,
Kameron Miller (in his second game back from injury) came through with a two-run single to push the lead to 6-1.
Gage Peterson endured a rocky start to the ballgame but settled in on the mound thereafter. The star right-hander walked the first three batters of the first inning but was able to buckle down and surrender just a single run in the inning.
Despite throwing 43 pitches in the first inning, Peterson bounced back to work 4.1 innings and strike out seven, allowing just the lone run. Peterson has struck out at least six batters in all seven starts this season and owns a 1.42 ERA on the year.
Jake Beaty entered with two on and two out in the fifth inning and picked up a strikeout to escape the jam and ultimately earn his first victory of the season.
Everette Harris,
Reyn Watson and
Jordan Fisher combined to cover the final four innings, allowing just a single run in the seventh. Fisher rolled a big double play ball in the eighth inning to erase a leadoff hit batter.
App State out-hit the Golden Eagles 11-6 for the ballgame and every Mountaineer who played reached base at least once in the contest.
The two teams will face off in the rubber game of the series on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
The 2026 App State Baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
