By Woody Woodrum, HI Sr. Columnist
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – No. 20 ranked and No. 3 seed Southern Miss scored four in the first and eight more in the fifth on the way to a seven-inning mercy win over No. 6 Old Dominion, 17-5. Southern Miss will meet the winner of the Marshall-FIU game yet to come, while Old Dominion will play the loser at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Playing in front of a partisan crowd of Golden Eagle fans, Southern Miss jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first, but ODU responded with five runs in the top of the second to take a shortly-held lead.