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HATTIESBURG − Shortly after Southern Miss baseball's victory over Georgia Southern at Pete Taylor Park on May 16, the collective attention of the Golden Eagles' faithful shifted 225 miles away in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The Ragin' Cajuns upset Coastal Carolina to win the series.
The Chanticleers' loss made the No. 8 Golden Eagles (40-14, 22-8 Sun Belt Conference) the Sun Belt Conference regular season champions and just as important the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. This is Southern Miss' first regular season conference championship since 2022 when it won the Conference USA title.
The Sun Belt tournament is scheduled for May 19-24 at DABOS Park in Montgomery, Alabama. Southern Miss will play the lower-seeded winner of Game 1 or Game 2 on May 20 at 4 p.m. CT. Game 1 is between No. 7 Louisiana and No. 10 Marshall at 3 p.m. and Game 2 is between No. 8 Old Dominion and No. 9 Georgia State at 6:30 p.m. Both games will be played on May 19.
Senior first baseman Matthew Russo’s eighth inning three-run home run for Southern Miss not only invoked the run-rule and finished off Georgia Southern an inning early, but it also confirmed a series sweep that had long since become a formality.
The Golden Eagles soared past Georgia Southern (16-40, 7-23) by a combined score of 35-4. Southern Miss run-ruled Georgia Southern in the series opener on May 14, 14-3 in seven innings, thanks in large part to a 10-run outburst in the second inning. The Golden Eagles’ won Game 2 10-1 on May 15 and wrapped up the sweep with an 11-0 victory in eight innings on May 16. The offense lit up the scoreboard, but the pitching staff was equally impressive, striking out 35 Georgia Southern and walking zero.
"They've answered the call, they're competing hard," Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. "Just like hitting is contagious, pitching is contagious. When you have guys go out there and compete their tails off, the next guy has a responsibility to do the same. I think they just hand it over to each other and trust each other. I'm very proud of the effort of those guys and just this whole group."
Southern Miss finished the regular season on a nine-game win streak, extending a nation-leading decade-long streak of seasons with at least 40 wins.
"Again, that's hard to do," Ostrander said. "These guys are battle tested. We put a very challenging schedule in front of them and to go 40-14 with that just speaks a lot of volume. This is a program that is built on tradition and culture."
The Golden Eagles are in line to host a regional according to most projections. D1 Baseball has Oklahoma, East Carolina and Indiana State playing in the Hattiesburg Regional.
The top eight seeds following regionals host a super regional meaning Southern Miss, which is listed as the No. 8 seed in D1 Baseball's recent poll, could host a Hattiesburg Super Regional should it advance.
Southern Miss’ RPI is No. 9 in the country. RPI is a metric used to rank the strength of teams based on wins and strength of opponents. The team is ranked No. 25 in strength of schedule and No. 10 in nonconference strength of schedule. The Golden Eagles are 6-6 against teams ranked top-25 in RPI and 17-4 against teams ranked 26th to 50th.
Davis Wilson covers Southern Miss athletics and Hattiesburg news for the Hattiesburg American. Email him at [email protected] or find him on X at @Davis_Wilson.
This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Southern Miss baseball sweeps Georgia Southern for Sun Belt conference championship
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The Ragin' Cajuns upset Coastal Carolina to win the series.
The Chanticleers' loss made the No. 8 Golden Eagles (40-14, 22-8 Sun Belt Conference) the Sun Belt Conference regular season champions and just as important the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. This is Southern Miss' first regular season conference championship since 2022 when it won the Conference USA title.
The Sun Belt tournament is scheduled for May 19-24 at DABOS Park in Montgomery, Alabama. Southern Miss will play the lower-seeded winner of Game 1 or Game 2 on May 20 at 4 p.m. CT. Game 1 is between No. 7 Louisiana and No. 10 Marshall at 3 p.m. and Game 2 is between No. 8 Old Dominion and No. 9 Georgia State at 6:30 p.m. Both games will be played on May 19.
How Southern Miss dominated Georgia Southern
Senior first baseman Matthew Russo’s eighth inning three-run home run for Southern Miss not only invoked the run-rule and finished off Georgia Southern an inning early, but it also confirmed a series sweep that had long since become a formality.
The Golden Eagles soared past Georgia Southern (16-40, 7-23) by a combined score of 35-4. Southern Miss run-ruled Georgia Southern in the series opener on May 14, 14-3 in seven innings, thanks in large part to a 10-run outburst in the second inning. The Golden Eagles’ won Game 2 10-1 on May 15 and wrapped up the sweep with an 11-0 victory in eight innings on May 16. The offense lit up the scoreboard, but the pitching staff was equally impressive, striking out 35 Georgia Southern and walking zero.
"They've answered the call, they're competing hard," Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. "Just like hitting is contagious, pitching is contagious. When you have guys go out there and compete their tails off, the next guy has a responsibility to do the same. I think they just hand it over to each other and trust each other. I'm very proud of the effort of those guys and just this whole group."
Southern Miss finished the regular season on a nine-game win streak, extending a nation-leading decade-long streak of seasons with at least 40 wins.
"Again, that's hard to do," Ostrander said. "These guys are battle tested. We put a very challenging schedule in front of them and to go 40-14 with that just speaks a lot of volume. This is a program that is built on tradition and culture."
Will the Golden Eagles host an NCAA regional?
The Golden Eagles are in line to host a regional according to most projections. D1 Baseball has Oklahoma, East Carolina and Indiana State playing in the Hattiesburg Regional.
The top eight seeds following regionals host a super regional meaning Southern Miss, which is listed as the No. 8 seed in D1 Baseball's recent poll, could host a Hattiesburg Super Regional should it advance.
Southern Miss’ RPI is No. 9 in the country. RPI is a metric used to rank the strength of teams based on wins and strength of opponents. The team is ranked No. 25 in strength of schedule and No. 10 in nonconference strength of schedule. The Golden Eagles are 6-6 against teams ranked top-25 in RPI and 17-4 against teams ranked 26th to 50th.
Davis Wilson covers Southern Miss athletics and Hattiesburg news for the Hattiesburg American. Email him at [email protected] or find him on X at @Davis_Wilson.
This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Southern Miss baseball sweeps Georgia Southern for Sun Belt conference championship
Continue reading...
