Marc Maddox's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning proved to be the winning run as Southern Miss defeated Tulane, 7-5, to win its first-ever Conference USA Tournament championship. With the win, the Golden Eagles become the fourth team in C-USA's eight years to win both the regular season and the tournament titles in the same year.

The victory earned head Coach Corky Palmer's team its first-ever C-USA title, and,while the game was in progress, the Golden Eagles learned that they would host an NCAA Regional Tournament, for the first time ever.

Southern Miss (45-14) jumped ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning, only to see Tulane (43-17) come back to take the lead with three runs in the top of the third frame. The Eagles tied the score in the fifth, Tulane got a single run in the sixth to move back into the lead, 4-3. The lead continued to seesaw as Southern Miss went back in front with two runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Tulane tied it again with a single run in the seventh, and the Golden Eagles then proceeded to score what may have been their two biggest runs of the season, in the bottom of the eighth. Jarrett Hoffpauir opened the inning by reaching base when he was hit by a pitch. Jason Lowery singled through the left side, and Matt Shepherd was walked to load the bases. Mark Maddox flew out to center, plating Hoffpauir and Cook singled up the middle to score Lowery for the second run of the inning, giving the Golden Eagles a two-run advantage.

Austin Tubb, in his second inning of relief, gave up a single to Brian Bormaster to lead off the ninth inning. He then struck out Jon Kaplan, before forcing Tony Giarratano to fly out to left for the second out. Michael Aubrey, Conference USA Player of the Year, flew out to deep center field to end the game and give Southern Miss the Conference USA Tournament Championship.

Southern Miss finished with two hits, including two each by Maddox, King and Lowery, one of King's was his 22nd home run of the season. Five Southern Miss pitchers limited Tulane to 10 hits, including two extra base hits, both home runs.

Tubb (3-1) earned his third win of the season, pitching the final 1.2 innings, giving up only one hit. The fourth and final Tulane pitcher of the game, Joey Charron, who threw one inning, took the loss, dropping to 3-7.

This marks the first outright tournament championship for Southern Miss, as the Eagles tied Florida State for the Metro Conference Championship in 1991.


2003 C-USA TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK

Southern Miss becomes the fourth different school to win the Conference USA Tournament, joining Tulane (4), Houston (2) and East Carolina.

This is the fourth time that the regular season C-USA Champion has also won the conference tournament. Tulane won both titles in 1998 and 2001 and Houston won both in 2000.

When Southern Miss scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning and eventually won, it meant that in 12 of the 13 games of this tournament the team that scored first went on to win the game. The only exception was when Houston scored first on Southern Miss, only to lose, 7-2.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Clint King hit a solo home run in the fifth inning of the championship game, giving him a league-high 22 for the season. King hit .400 (6-for-15) in the tournament with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI.

Southern Miss led all tournament teams in hitting (.361, 34 points ahead of South Florida at .327) and pitching (2.12 ERA).

All four schools that reached the semifinal round of the tournament finished with team ERA’s of 2.75 or lower. In addition to USM’s top 2.12 mark, East Carolina had a 2.27, Tulane had a 2.57 and Louisville posted a 2.75.

Sunday’s championship game was played in front of 3,569 fans, the third-largest crowd in Turchin Stadium history.


2003 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

C Brian Bormaster, Tulane
IF Darryl Lawhorn, East Carolina
IF J.T. LaFountain, Louisville
IF Beau Griffin, Southern Miss
IF Tommy Manzella, Tulane
OF Jeff Cook, Southern Miss
OF Clint King, Southern Miss
OF Jason Lowery, Southern Miss
DH Allen Shirley, South Florida
P Jason Tourangeau, East Carolina
P Billy Mohl, Tulane

Tournament MVP: Clint King