Southern Miss baseball failed to win its opening NCAA regional game for the fourth consecutive year.
After earning the No. 9 national seed, the Golden Eagles (44-16) were upset by Little Rock (37-26) 7-4 in Friday’s regional opener at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg.
Southern Miss took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning on a solo home run from Davis Gillespie, but All-Sun Belt pitcher Colby Allen surrendered four runs on four hits in the top of the ninth as the Trojans surged back in front. The Golden Eagles failed to put a runner on base in the ninth inning, ending any chances of a comeback.
How it happened
After falling behind in the third inning on an RBI single by Nolan Freund, Southern Miss answered in the bottom half of the frame when Kyle Morrison launched a solo home run to tie the game.
The Golden Eagles grabbed a 3-1 lead later in the inning when Sun Belt Conference Tournament MVP Joey Urban blasted a two-run homer that ricocheted off the center-field light pole.
Little Rock chipped away with runs in the sixth and eighth innings. Ty Rhoades drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to one before Angel Cano tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI groundout in the eighth.
Gillespie’s solo shot in the bottom of the eighth briefly put Southern Miss back in front, but Little Rock answered with four runs in the top of the ninth. Blake Simpson’s two-run homer capped the rally and lifted the No. 4 seed Trojans past the top-seeded Golden Eagles.
Allen took the loss in relief of starter Camden Clark, falling to 7-2 on the season. The senior right-hander allowed five runs on seven hits while striking out four and issuing no walks over 3 2/3 innings.
Clark surrendered two runs on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts across 5 1/3 innings in his seventh start of the year.
What the coach said
Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander expressed disappointment with the result but emphasized moving forward in the double-elimination regional.
“First, I want to congratulate Coach (Chris) Curry and Little Rock. They earned that win and competed their tails off,” Ostrander said. “We’re disappointed with the loss. It’s not what we set out to do today, but we weren’t able to separate in the game. It was a close game, and they got some momentum in the ninth inning and we have to move on.”
Curry, who is a Meridian Community College and Mississippi State graduate who coached at Meridian CC from 2011-12, praised the environment in Hattiesburg.
“Great college atmosphere and great game. We were very fortunate to play in Hattiesburg, where the fans were a little rowdy, but classy,” Curry said.
Next up
Southern Miss will now face elimination when it returns to action Saturday at 3 p.m. against the loser of Friday’s matchup between No. 3 Jacksonville State and No. 2 Virginia.
