The highlight of the weekend that was in college baseball – at least for the teams here in Mississippi – was Southern Miss’ sweep of Georgia Southern. For several reasons, too.
The No. 8 Golden Eagles (40-14, 22-8 Sun Belt) closed out the regular season with three consecutive conference sweeps and, paired with No. 20 Coastal Carolina’s series loss to Louisiana, were able to claim their first Sun Belt regular-season title since joining the league in 2023. That being said, Southern Miss did win the conference tournament in its first year, again in 2024, and will look to be doing the same this time next week.
The sweep over Georgia Southern (16-40, 7-23) also catapulted Southern Miss to yet another 40-win season. The Golden Eagles have now won more than 40 games in 10 consecutive full seasons, excluding the COVID-shortened season in 2020. That’s the longest such streak in Division I baseball.
How it happened
The Southern Miss bats were torrid all weekend long, with the pitching staff arguably even more dominant.
The Golden Eagles lit up the scoreboard in all three wins: 14-3, 10-1, and 11-0 (8).
Saturday’s finale was rubberstamped by a three-run blast off the bat of senior Matthew Russo to close the game out early. Throughout the weekend, Southern Miss totaled eight home runs with Drey Barrett and Seth Smith each sending a pair over the outfield wall.
Winning pitchers were Grayden Harris (8-1), Camden Clark (8-0), and Camden Sunstrom (6-3). Each pitched five innings with Clark being the only to give up an earned run. The bullpen was dominant, too, allowing only two earned runs across the series.
Mississippi State, Ole Miss drop regular-season finales
Both No. 13 Mississippi State and No. 15 Ole Miss were on the road for the final series of the season. Neither were able to get more than one win against their respective Southeastern Conference opponents.
In College Station, Mississippi State (39-16, 16-14 SEC) was backdoored by No. 10 Texas A&M. The Bulldogs used a 13-run third inning to power to an 18-11 game-one win. Games two and three went to the Aggies, though, as Mississippi State was on the wrong side of 11-9 and 7-6 final scores.
In Tuscaloosa, Ole Miss (36-20, 15-15) was beat by No. 18 Alabama, 5-4, in game one. The Rebels found redemption in game two, winning 9-0, before dropping the rubber match 6-2.
Conference tournaments on deck
Southern Miss will be the 1-seed in the Sun Belt tournament in Montgomery, Ala. The Golden Eagles’ first game will be Wednesday at 4 p.m. with their opponent yet to be decided.
Ole Miss and Mississippi State will both play in the SEC tournament in Hoover, Ala. The Rebels will be the 9-seed and start with 16-seed Missouri on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. The winner of that game will meet 8-seed Mississippi State on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.
All three teams are shoo-ins for an NCAA regional, but runs in their respective conference tournaments will only help with seeding.
