Southern Miss takes 3-0 lead over Auburn on home run from Christopher Sargent

Southern Miss took a 3-0 lead over No. 12 Auburn in the first inning of an elimination game in the Auburn Regional at the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

Christopher Sargent took one to right field and watched it float out of the ballpark for a three-run bomb. It looked like a routine fly ball but it kept carrying.

Southern Miss struck first in a do-or-die game against the Tigers.

Lt. Sarge is close to earning a promotion with this one

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Over the course of this season, Sargent batted .256, hit 12 home runs, had 40 RBI, 57 hits and scored 42 runs.

It was not the best start for Auburn, which lost its opener Friday night to Penn 6-3, in extra innings.

“I give all the credit in the world to Penn,” Auburn coach Butch Thompson said postgame. “We knew they had a high-level pitching staff. We just didn’t get enough hits. We couldn’t link up enough offensively to keep pace.”

Auburn will have to pick up the offense against Southern Miss if it wants a chance.

After a one-out walk in the top of the 11th Friday, Penn’s Ryan Taylor broke a 3-3 tie with an RBI double. The Quakers added two more runs on back-to-back safety squeeze bunts.

Penn held Auburn to four singles while stranding 10 Tiger baserunners. Auburn struck out 14 times and was 1-for-15 with runners on, 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-10 with two outs.

If Auburn has any chance of advancing and staying alive, the Tigers will have to play catch up. Southern Miss fell 4-2 in 10 innings to Samford in the opening game.

But the Golden Eagles can knock out Auburn on the Tigers’ home diamond with this type of performance.