By Robert Wilson
Everyone who keeps up with Southern Miss baseball has heard about the Golden Eagle pitcher who threw the “invisaball,” against the University of Penn in the Auburn Regional.
His name is Justin Storm. He is 6-foot-7, 232 pounds and he throws left-handed. His “invisaball,” was what Penn coach Justin Blood called Storm’s pitch after Storm dominated his team with 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings while retiring 16 batters in a row before allowing his only hit in his incredible relief performance to force a championship match and rematch against Penn Monday. Sun Belt Conference Tournament champion Southern Miss won the regional championship and now plays host to Clemson Regional champion Tennessee this weekend in Hattiesburg in the best of three series in the Super Regional. Game 1 is Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPNU and ESPN+). The winner goes to the College World Series, something Southern Miss has been to only once (in 2009) in school history.
And Storm helped get them to this point, especially last Sunday night with his “invisaball.”
Said Southern Miss coach Scott Berry:
“It was total dominance. I’m not exaggerating, that’s some of the best stuff I’ve seen in a long time. That’s the stuff you see on TV in the big leagues. He was dialed in.”
Storm is projected to be the No. 365 pick (51st left-handed pitcher) in the Major League Draft next month by properspective.com on May 19 but is likely to move up the charts after Sunday night’s “big league,” performance.
Storm is the son of Natacia and John Storm. Justin grew up in Madison and has lived in the same house his entire life. His other brother, Mitchell, is also 6-7 and played basketball for Madison Central High, East Mississippi Community College and Mississippi State.
Mitchell and Justin don’t get their height from their parents (mom is 5-8 and dad is 6-2), but from Natacia’s grandfather, 6-8 Woods Peagler, who was “big boned and thick legged,” said Natacia like Justin.
Justin also played basketball at Madison Central, starting at center since he was a sophomore and averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds as a senior playing against some of the best teams in Mississippi.
“Justin is that kind of kid you wish you could clone,” said Tim Speech, who coached Storm at Madison Central and is now the coach at Greenville. “He could have easily played Division I basketball. Justin had a deadly left-handed hook shot and could grab a rebound and make a pinpoint pass the length of the court. He probably led our team in assists. But when the Mets and Yankees are coming to your practices and games in baseball, it’s hard to convince them to choose basketball over baseball in college. Justin was a team leader. He has the ‘it’ factor. In addition, Justin is an outstanding person and I’m not surprised at all at his success as a college baseball player. Justin’s future in bright. I’m so proud of him.”
Storm started off at an early age playing everything, John Storm said, soccer, basketball, baseball, and football.
“He played tight end in football in the eighth grade,” John said. “He was pretty good at it, but by the end, it was like ‘I’ve checked that box, let’s go to something else.’ (Then Madison Central football) Coach (Anthony) Hart would always stop Justin in hallway during school and try to get him to come out again.”
Justin didn’t just burst onto the scene at talent rich Madison Central, especially since he was coming off the basketball court and didn’t get to work out like the other baseball players. He played junior varsity as a sophomore (Madison Central had 17 seniors on its roster) and saw limited action as a junior. And then there was Storm’s senior season in 2020, which was shortened by covid.
“I knew Justin was a leader the first time I was ever in a dugout with him before his freshman year of high school,” Madison Central coach Patrick Robey said. “He is a vocal leader that others follow because he backs up what he says. Justin is a guy that teammates gravitate towards because of so many factors. He has big league make up and big league stuff on the mound. Justin didn’t get overused when he was younger probably some of that has to do with him playing basketball a large part of the year. His best baseball is still in front of him. Justin appears to be his best on the biggest moments on the biggest stage. That is certainly a positive for USM right now. I’m extremely happy for him and also happy he is under the leadership of (Southern Miss head) Coach (Scott) Berry and (Southern Miss pitching) Coach (Christian) Ostrander.”
Storm didn’t get on the Southern Miss radar until he was playing with Team Mississippi in a tournament in Oklahoma in the summer before his senior year. Berry saw him there and saw Storm’s potential. Berry asked Ostrander to follow up and he saw him in a summer league game at University of South Alabama in Mobile. Ostrander liked him too, Southern Miss extended an offer after that, and it has paid off.
Storm pitched in 12 games in relief as a freshman and 13 games in relief last year as sophomore, but he shined in the Hattiesburg Regional when he threw five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts for the win and force a deciding championship game.
Storm has had an outstanding junior season. He has a 6-2 record with eight saves (tied for third in the Sun Belt) and a 2.61 earned run average. He has 28 appearances and pitched 41 1/3 innings with 69 strikeouts and only 15 walks and allowed only 24 hits and batters are hitting only .161 against him. Storm’s ERA would be second in the Sun Belt to Southern Miss All-American pitcher Tanner Hall, but he doesn’t have enough innings pitched to qualify.
Storm has delivered in the postseason.
He pitched a brilliant 5 2/3 innings of relief in Southern Miss’ 6-2 win over Louisiana Lafayette in the Sun Belt Tournament championship game. Storm allowed only 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks and had 8 strikeouts.
Then came the “invisaball,” game, where he dominated Penn in one of the top post season pitching performances in Southern Miss history.
Humble as he is good, Storm was thankful for all the compliments of his performance against Penn.
“It’s just a slider,” said Storm, who smiled when told about his renamed “invisball,” from the Penn coach.
Now Storm, one the captains on this team, is two wins away from going to the College World Series, something he and his teammates would love to give to Berry, who is retiring at the end of this season. Southern Miss – the only baseball program to win at least 40 games for the past seven consecutive seasons – could make its second CWS appearance in school history. The only other appearance was in 2009 in the late Coach Corky Palmer’s last season.
Be watching for Storm – who wears No. 35 – to be warming up in the bullpen if needed and available to produce possibly another stellar relief performance this weekend.
