March 23, 2001

Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Behind two home runs, Southern Miss defeated Charlotte, 5-2, in the first game of their three-game Conference USA series.

Southern Miss took an early 1-0 on Shea Douglas home run over the centerfield wall in the second inning.

Charlotte tied the game at 1-1 when Brad Erwin connected on his eighth home run of the season over the left centerfield wall in the fourth inning.

Southern Miss retook the lead 3-1 in the fifth inning. Nathan Bowden led off the inning with a single to leftfield. He would score the first run of the inning on a Charlotte throwing error. Allen Winningham, who reached base on the error, would score the other run on a wild pitch.

Southern Miss increased their lead to 5-1 with two runs in the sixth inning. Darren Welch led off the inning with a home run over the leftfield wall. Then, Douglas scored his second run of the game on a wild pitch after reaching base on a Charlotte error.

Charlotte cut the score to 5-2 in the seventh inning when Brad Lamm scored on a Southern Miss fielding error.

The two teams will continue their three-game series, Saturday, March 24 at 3 pm.