HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Dorian Gonzalez Jr. and Derek Williams hit home runs and Miami won the Hattiesburg Regional with a 5-4 decision over Southern Mississippi on Monday night.
The Hurricanes go to the best-of-three Louisville Super Regional with a College World Series berth on the line. The Cardinals won the Nashville Regional hosted by No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt.
Southern Mississippi, which lost its regional opener to Columbia 11-4, got revenge for that game with an 8-1 win and Sunday night topped Miami 17-6 to force the deciding game.
Miami (34-25) had nine hits and they were bunched well. Williams had a solo home run in the first inning. In the fifth, after a two-out single by Michael Torres, Jake Ogden had an RBI double and Max Galvin drove Ogden home with a single to make it 3-1.
Gonzalez had his home run leading off the sixth and then Torres had a two-out single for a 5-1 lead.
Matthew Russo had a run-scoring single in the fourth to tie the game and Tucker Stockman drove in a run in the seventh for the Golden Eagles (47-16).
Carson Paetow hit a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth before Brian Walters got the last out for his 10th save. Will Smith (3-0) pitched the middle three innings for the win.
Matthew Adams (6-4) gave up three runs in 4 2/3 innings but struck out nine. Landen Payne pitched the last three innings, allowing a hit and five strikeouts.
Miami plays Louisville in Game 1 of the Super Regional at 3 p.m. Friday, which will be televised on ESPN2. Game 2 is on ESPN at 11 a.m. Saturday.
