
Columbia stuns top-seeded Southern Miss 11-4 in nightcap of Hattiesburg Regional
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Hunter Snyder had four hits and scored three runs, and Anton Lazits hit a three-run homer to power Columbia to an 11-4 victory over top-seeded tournament host Southern Mississippi in the Hattiesburg Regional on Friday night.
Fourth-seeded Columbia (30-17) will play the No. 3 seed Miami Hurricanes on Saturday. Southern Miss (44-15) will play Alabama in an elimination game earlier in the day.
Snyder had an RBI single, and Sam Miller doubled in two before scoring on a double by Griffen Palfrey in a four-run fourth inning as the Lions took a 6-1 lead.
Owen Estabrook hit a two-run homer in the eighth and added an RBI single in the ninth for Columbia. Lazits homered leading off the three-run ninth for the Lions.
Alex Sotiropoulos (5-3) pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings in relief of starter Jagger Edwards. Edwards allowed three runs — one earned — on two hits in 3 1/3. Tomas Lopez pitched the final two innings and allowed an unearned run on two hits.
Jake Cook had two hits and an RBI for the Golden Eagles. Starter Matthew Adams (6-3) allowed four runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Southern Miss is playing in its ninth straight NCAA Tournament and 21st overall. The Golden Eagles made their only College World Series appearance in 2009.
Columbia has made six of its eight national tourney appearances since 2013 but never advanced to the CWS.
___
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Winnipeg Free Press
33 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Bavuma and Markram swung WTC final in South Africa's favor
LONDON (AP) — Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma didn't have the pleasure of finishing off what they started. No problem. South Africa won the World Test Championship and that's all that mattered to them. It was fitting that Markram and Bavuma led the comeback with the bat as South Africa beat Australia by five wickets by completing a run chase of 282 at Lord's on the fourth day Saturday. They were the linchpins of a batting unit considered to be South Africa's weak point and their partnership of 147 — 143 on Friday — tore the game away from Australia after the bowlers dominated the first two days. But their stand was almost over before it began when Bavuma strained his left hamstring on 9 just before tea on Friday. He was hobbling, struggling to run. Coach Shukri Conrad didn't want Bavuma to continue. 'The coaches thought the wiser decision was to let someone else in who could run properly,' Bavuma said. 'But I thought it was important I stayed out here and put up a total. It could've gone the other way and I could've been criticized but we're here now.' Markram called Bavuma's innings of 65 not out on Friday — ultimately 66 on Saturday — an innings to remember as the captain ran raggedly but batted brilliantly. 'We got the best of the batting conditions,' Conrad said. 'Two-eighty was always going to be a stiff task. But the two pros, Aiden and Temba, stood tall and took us through. I was the one who said Temba shouldn't bat (after the injury) but the partnership was critical, and they know better than the coaches.' Bavuma, the most experienced player in the Proteas and the first Black South African to score a century, has been at ease with himself a lot more since Conrad became the coach two years ago. Together, they have won 11 of 15 tests. Bavuma is unbeaten in 10 tests as a captain. Previously, he struggled with being the hope of a nation, anxious trying to prove something to everyone ahead of himself. When he suffered untimely drops in form at the 2022 T20 World Cup and 2023 ODI World Cup, he was savagely abused on social media and in public. He's silenced his doubters for now. So has Markram. Markram's MVP-winning 136, only his second century away from home in eight years, is expected to give the allrounder who opens the confidence to lift his test reputation to the repute he enjoys in T20s and ODIs. Until this match, Markram was the only South Africa captain to win a World Cup, the under-19 version in 2014. His test career has roller-coastered but he was recalled by Conrad and backed by Bavuma. Markram led the team to the 2024 T20 World Cup final but wasn't scarred by defeat when victory was in sight, another tribute to his resilience. 'Aiden is unbelievable, people have questioned his place, but he has character,' Bavuma said. 'He played (the WTC final) in true Aiden fashion.' Markram was controlled and chanceless in a stay of six hours, 23 minutes on a flat pitch. 'It will rank up there as number one,' he said. 'My test career has been hard going, very stop-start. Weird how things worked out after a duck in the first innings. Need a bit of luck. It's one of the most special days.' ___ AP cricket:


Winnipeg Free Press
37 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
He's not Batman. He's Alex Caruso. And he's leading the Thunder in his own way in the NBA Finals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Alex Caruso got asked after Game 4 of the NBA Finals if he's aware that he's achieved a level of superhero-type status among fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder during this playoff run. After all, having zero 20-point games in the regular season followed by two — and counting — in the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers tends to have an effect on people. 'For the superhero reference, we'll just do Robin because that's the only one I can probably make some similarities to,' Caruso said. 'I've got better players around me that are doing more.' That's part of the Caruso story, and he's just fine with that. He was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team — alongside a Batman in LeBron James — that won a title in the pandemic 'bubble' in 2020. And he has helped this Thunder team — alongside another Batman in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP and scoring champion who slapped on his cape and carried OKC down the stretch of Game 4 — move within two wins of what would be his second championship. He had 20 points against the Pacers in Game 2 and 20 points again in a probably season-saving win in Game 4; it's no coincidence that those are the games the Thunder have won in this series. And his Game 4 performance was historic; no player in finals history had ever had 20 points and five steals off the bench in a game during the title series. Before Friday, that is, when he did just that. 'He's a competitive monster, clearly,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. 'He's proven that time and again over his career. Certainly in these playoffs … I can't say enough about him as a competitor.' Caruso, 31, is the oldest player on the Thunder roster. And his teammates have no problem pointing out that he's the wise sage of the team, the vet with a ring, the one you go to for advice on virtually any topic. 'He plays the game, he thinks the game and he's also coaching the game all at the same time,' forward Cason Wallace said. 'He's always a few steps ahead.' Caruso's is the quintessential story of bucking the odds. A four-star recruit out of high school, not drafted by any NBA team, and some coaches still lament letting him get away. Among them: Rick Carlisle. Now the Indiana coach, Carlisle was with Dallas when the Mavericks brought Caruso — a Texas A&M guy — in for a workout. They didn't even offer him a summer league deal. Whoops. 'Some of these guys that go under the radar have that level of grit and determination that is able to get them to the league and to get them some longevity and high impact,' Carlisle said. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. James, even now, still calls Caruso 'one of my favorite teammates of all time.' The Thunder feel the same way about him, for obvious reasons. Caruso doesn't need to be Batman. Being a Robin is just fine with him. 'It just comes down to really wanting to win, being super competitive,' Caruso said. 'That's why my career is the way it is. That's why I've had success. That's why I'm still in the NBA. That's why I'm here talking to you right now.' ___ AP NBA:


Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Thunder embraced their moments of adversity this season. It paid off in Game 4 of the NBA Finals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The book is called 'The Obstacle Is the Way.' It's a gift that Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault gave to Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein during a trying time this season, knowing the voracious reader would figure out the meaning. Message delivered. 'I read it and remembered that everything happens for a reason,' Hartenstein said. 'And after that, everything worked out great.' Such has been the story of the Thunder season. Such was the story of Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Faced with the biggest challenge of their season — a 10-point deficit in the second half, staring at a very real chance of the Indiana Pacers grabbing the almost-insurmountable 3-1 lead in the title round — the Thunder, once again, came away saying everything worked out great. Led by a dazzling and frantic finish from the reigning MVP and scoring champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who had 15 of his 35 points in the final five minutes or so — the Thunder rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Indiana 111-104 on Friday night. The series is now tied 2-2, heading back to Oklahoma City for Game 5 on Monday night, and it's the Thunder who have home-court advantage again. 'That was an uphill game against a great team,' Daigneault said after Game 4 in Indianapolis, simultaneously lauding his team while also raving about the Pacers. 'This is one of the best teams in the league in the last couple months, since All-Star break. They're a hard team to beat here. They're a hard team to beat, period. I thought we gutted it out on a night when we didn't have a lot going, especially offensively.' It was a night when the Thunder made only three 3-pointers and were shooting 45% with about five minutes left before Gilgeous-Alexander got going. He took 11 shots in the final 4:40 — three field-goal attempts, one of them a 3-point try, and eight free throws — and made them all. A perfect finish, on a night when little had gone to plan. 'It's unbelievable,' Daigneault said. 'He really didn't have it going a lot of the night. He was laboring. We had a hard time shaking him free. For him to be able to flip the switch like that and get the rhythm he got just speaks to how great of a player he is.' It might not have seemed so to the outside world — those who fixated on things like Oklahoma City's 68-14 franchise-best record, its 16-game lead over its nearest challenger in the Western Conference standings, a record number of double-digit wins and how all of it was led by the MVP and scoring champion in Gilgeous-Alexander. But the Thunder did, in fact, face some adversity this season. They played without Chet Holmgren and Hartenstein for a while during the year. There was some flux to the lineup at times. Everybody probably had some sort of mini-slump along the way. There was a Game 1 loss in the second round to Denver. And Daigneault embraced every bit of that pain, knowing that for the Thunder to get to where they want to go adversity was going to present itself. Like the being-down-10, late-third-quarter sort of adversity that came up in Game 4. Just like Hartenstein was led to believe by the book, everything worked out great. 'We haven't really had to show it a lot this year, with the success we had in the regular season,' guard Jalen Williams said shortly before the team left for the flight back to Oklahoma City, where a huge crowd showed up in the middle of the night to greet the team at the airport — as they often do. 'We've had a lot of ups and downs during the playoffs. We've just learned from those experiences. That is something Mark is really big on; every game you should be able to learn, then the next game you should be able to apply something and get better at it. That's what we're trying to do every time.' The series is far from over and the Thunder know it. Indiana already has won once at Oklahoma City in these finals; surely, the Pacers think they can do it again. And even though the teams finished 18 wins apart in the final standings — OKC won 68 times, Indiana won 50 — it doesn't seem like 18 wins worth of disparity between the clubs right now. Indiana stole Game 1 at the end. Oklahoma City stole Game 4 at the end, albeit not as dramatically as the Pacers took the opener. Game 2 was pretty much controlled by the Thunder throughout; the Pacers had the best of the play for the majority of Game 3. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Add it up, and it looks exactly like what it is — a 2-2 series going into Game 5. 'I still feel like we have so much work to do,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'Halfway there, obviously, but still so far from the finish line.' True, but two more efforts like this, and everything will work out great. Just like the book says. ___ AP NBA: