By Robert Wilson
After breaking an 11-game winning streak Saturday night in the Sun Belt Conference semifinals, Southern Miss baseball coach Christian Ostrander challenged his team because he said Troy had more grit, something that the Golden Eagles take pride in, and for that reason Troy handed Southern Miss a loss in the double elimination tournament.
“To me, it was a really big personal challenge,” Southern Miss senior third baseman Ty Long said. “I’m a part of our leadership group and we’ve got to stay strong to our teammates. Yesterday, Coach challenged us and it hit me deep. I have been told that (that Troy had more grit than they did) in a really long time. It put me in a different head space. I checked myself, checked the team, reevaluate and come in today fired up. Let’s go be fire for the day. Championship Sunday. That’s what we are built for.”
And because the Golden Eagles met Coach Oz’s challenge, they are the Sun Belt champions and are one of 16 teams in the country to be hosting an NCAA Regional.
Southern Miss bounced back from a 9-6 loss to Troy Saturday night to defeat Troy 6-2 Sunday morning, then defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 11-7 in the conference championship game Sunday afternoon in Montgomery, Ala.
Southern Miss improved to 44-15 and won the conference regular season and tournament championship for the first time since 2018.
This is fifth time in school history and second consecutive season that Southern Miss’ Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field will host a regional. The other years were 2003, 2017, and 2022.
Southern Miss – the No. 9 overall seed and No. 1 seed in the Hattiesburg Regional – will play No. 4 seed and Ohio Valley Conference tournament champion Little Rock Friday at 1 p.m. Central on ESPN plus in the first round. No. 2 seed Virginia plays No. 4 seed and Conference USA tournament champion Jacksonville State Friday at 6 p.m. Central in the other first round game. Virginia lost to No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament quarterfinals.
The winner of the Hattiesburg Regional is matched up with the winner of Gainesville Regional in the Super Regional. No. 3 national seed Florida is the No. 1 seed in the Gainesville Regional.
Senior pitchers Kros Sivley and Colby Allen combined to limit Troy to one unearned run and senior centerfielder Joey Urban, sophomore designated hitter Drey Barrett, senior right fielder Ben Higdon and Stockman had two hits each in the victory over Troy Sunday morning.
Senior shortstop and leadoff hitter Seth Smith and senior first baseman and cleanup hitter Matthew Russo hit a home run each to give Southern Miss a 3-0 lead after one inning and the Golden Eagles scored three more runs in the second inning, two runs each in the third and fourth innings and one in the fifth inning to take a commanding 11-1 lead in the championship game.
Urban had four hits and five runs batted in in the two games Sunday on his way to earning the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award. Smith had three and Long had three hits each.
Allen, Russo and Barrett also made the all-tournament team.
“I’m just so happy for our players,” said Ostrander in a postgame interview with Jason Baker of the Southern Miss radio network. “I watched them celebrate and dogpile. That’s what it’s all about. I’m happy for my coaches. They work their tail off. They do such a great job. They are phenomenal human beings. I’m happy for all these fans here. It’s special to see all these folks see us dogpile because they support us. I’m proud for the program and very thankful. We weren’t satisfied the way we played yesterday. We didn’t like the way we competed. We didn’t like that. This morning we did the old (former Clarion Ledger/Jackson Daily News sportswriter) Mickey Spagnola quote (from a 1982 column) that if you want to fight, don’t chose Southern Miss because they are going to be gritter and all that good stuff. That means something to these guys. We wanted to represent the pride in this jersey and we were out here to win a championship today. These senior mean everything. Every little bit matters. It was a long day, a tough day. What Colby and Kris did today was so special that really set us up to win this game.”
“This was special,” Russo said in an interview with Baker. “We knew it was going to be hard. With the loss yesterday, we knew it was going to take everybody. We had great energy today, probably the most I’ve seen in a while. We made it happen. We knew what we had do and we did it. Seth got the first at bat homer and I was able to hit a high fastball over the fence to blow it open a little bit early. That was momentum going our way. That set the tone of how we were coming. We took that and ran with it. There wasn’t much change from yesterday. We just had to remind ourselves how good we are and we came out with a little bit of an edge today, knowing we are the better team and it showed.”
“These guys are full of grit, full of toughness,” Smith said in an interview with Baker. “We showed that today. We played that 9 am game today after a tough loss yesterday and won two games today. I love this group of guys. I will do anything to keep this group together as long as possible. We have created a bond and we vowed not to let that bond break. It’s as simple as that. We love each other. We will do anything for each other. We will go to war for each other. All of us bought into the culture and it’s showing now. Last year I got a little taste (of the regional) and it was a lot of fun. I can’t imagine how much more fun it will be this weekend.”
“It is a good feeling, just to be able to provide for the team,” Long said in an interview with Baker. “We have just a brotherhood around here. There are no self ambitions here. We are all for the team. To do something good and to set us up like that and give us a good lead was a good feeling. I have an older brother, and this is the closest thing I’ve ever felt to have another brother. We have older leadership who have been around the block. We know how to handle themselves in big situations and also when things aren’t going our way. I’m looking forward to the regional big time but we have to take it one day at a time. We have to have some good practices this week.”
Southern Miss won four tournament games last week, including a remarkable, come-from-behind, 7-6 victory over Troy Friday night.
Barrett hit a two-out, two-strike grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning for the win to finish a five-run inning. It was their eighth win in the last inning this season. Barrett had three hits, including two home runs, and had six RBIs.
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