After narrowly missing out on being named a regional host site, the No. 16-ranked Southern Miss baseball team found out Monday where they will be playing when the NCAA Tournament begins on June 2.
The road to Omaha for the Golden Eagles (41-17) will begin in Auburn, Ala. as the regional’s No. 2 seed. Scott Berry’s squad will go up against No. 1 seed Auburn (34-21-1), No. 3 seed Samford (36-23), and No. 4 seed Pennsylvania (32-14).
AUBURN REGIONAL
1️⃣ Auburn
4️⃣ Penn
3️⃣ Samford
2️⃣ Southern Miss#RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/VNdUBp4PSh
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 29, 2023
The Golden Eagles, who secured a Sun Belt championship on Sunday in their first year as a member of the conference, will be one of the more dangerous two seeds across the Field of 64, according to D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers.
“I will say one team that did not host that I’ve got my eye on in the postseason is Southern Miss,” Rogers said on Monday’s episode of The D1Baseball Podcast. “You could have given them a host over all of these teams that we’re talking about, and it would not have been a wrong decision. So, that’s a team for me that I think is really dangerous.”
Rogers cited a handful of reasons that make Southern Miss a non-one seed that could make a big run, including their RPI now being at No. 21 and a 10-5 record against top 50 teams during the regular season.
Southern Miss will look to be the third consecutive team to bring a national championship back to the Magnolia State when the Auburn Regional kicks off Friday. The Golden Eagles will open against Samford. Tickets go on sale following Monday’s selection show at 12:30 p.m. CT.
