On Thursday night, the No. 14 Troy Trojans (37-17, 18-10) dropped game one of the final Sun Belt Conference series of the regular season by a score of 4-3 to No. 19-ranked Southern Miss Golden Eagles (39-13, 22-6) at home. 

In the second inning, Sean Darnell drove Brooks Bryan in to put Troy ahead 1-0 but a sacrifice fly from Southern Miss in the top of the fourth tied the score. A bases loaded single also drove in two more runs to put the Eagles ahead 3-1. In the bottom of the fourth, Troy cut the lead to 3-2 off an RBI single from Jimmy Janicki. 

The score remained locked at 3-2 until Troy’s Steven Meier drove Dillon Kuehl home with a double into center field in the bottom of the seventh to tie things up. Southern Miss answered right back, however, with a solo home run in the eighth inning and Troy was never able to tie the game again. 

Janicki was the only Trojan with multiple hits in the game one loss. He, Brooks Bryan and Meier each hit doubles. Colby Frieda (3-1) took his first loss on the mound, striking out two batters and giving up four hits and one earned run. Noah Thigpen struck out three and gave up five hits and no earned runs in three and ⅔ innings pitched. Blake Cavill tallied seven putouts, two assists and a double play with no fielding errors.