May 31, 2002

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – (5-31-02) Erick Smallwood went three for four with a home run and three RBI while Shane Schoville provided a big two-RBI double in the fifth inning to propel number-one seed South Alabama (42-17) to a 7-4 win over Kent State (37-21) in first round action at the NCAA baseball South Bend regional. South Alabama will face Notre Dame at 3:05 p.m. on Saturday, while Kent State will take on Ohio State at 11 a.m.

Sam Smith (9-1) pitched a strong seven innings for the Jaguars, scattering 11 hits, striking out five and giving up all four Kent State runs. Dirk Hayhurst took the loss for the Golden Flashes (4.1 innings, eight hits, six runs).

The bottom of the lineup provided most of the offense for Kent State, as Casey Ellis, Chad Kinyon and Erick Holick all registered two hits.

South Alabama’s Josh Touchstone improved his hit streak to 30 games in the victory, as the Jaguars grabbed their first opening round win in four years.