Southern Miss opened the 2025 Sun Belt Conference tournament with a program-record 16th consecutive win, topping Texas State by a score of 9-1 on Wednesday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles (42-13) were led by ace righthander and Ferriss Trophy winner JB Middleton. The Yazoo City native earned his 10th win of the campaign by limiting the Bobcats (27-30) to a single run on five hits and seven innings pitched, striking out 10 hitters and walking just one. Kros Sivley kept the door closed in relief, working two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤. 𝐀 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
16 in a row, officially the longest win streak in program history! #EverythingMatters | #SMTTT pic.twitter.com/NwVa6SIsY8
— Southern Miss Baseball (@SouthernMissBSB) May 21, 2025
It was the third consecutive year Southern Miss opened the tournament with a victory. The offense complemented Middleton’s outing by scoring in six of eight innings, starting with a pair of runs in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Carson Paetow and an RBI single by Joey Urban. Center fielder Jake Cook broke the game open, adding another run on a fielder’s choice in the second inning and a two-run home run in the fourth.
The Golden Eagles gradually grew their lead by way of a two RBI Ozzie Pratt single and another run scoring base knock an inning later by the senior shortstop. The scoring was capped by a Matthew Russo sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to stretch the score to 9-1.
Southern Miss advanced to the winner’s bracket against No. 6 seed Old Dominion, who knocked off No. 3 Troy Wednesday. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. Thursday at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Al.
