HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The oft-mentioned “Hot-Cold-Hot” theory is certainly alive and well in Hattiesburg, as the Southern Miss baseball team has completely shaken off its midseason lull to catch fire again at the perfect time, right before the postseason begins. After securing a second consecutive Sun Belt sweep over the weekend, the Golden Eagles have soared their way back into the college baseball rankings top 10.
After starting the season 15-2 with a handful of wins against top-ranked opponents, the Golden Eagles went into a bit of a slump during the middle part of the season, playing .500 baseball for a little more than a month. However, if Southern Miss can pull off a third consecutive sweep this coming weekend, it will not only run its win streak up to nine, but it will also finish the season the way it started it, with a 15-2 record over the final 17 games.
The Golden Eagles own a 37-14 (19-8) record and the No. 9 RPI heading into the final week of the regular season.
Eags Rise in the Week 14 Rankings and Looking for More
After staying at No. 12 in the D1Baseball rankings for two consecutive weeks, the Golden Eagles made enough of an impression on their staff to rise to No. 8 in Week 14. This is the highest Southern Miss has been in the D1Baseball rankings since it was No. 10 in Week 9 before dropping a series to the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in Lafayette.
The Golden Eagles obviously took care of business on their end in Week 13, but they also received some help from Old Dominion upsetting Coastal Carolina on the road. The Chants were No. 8 heading into this past weekend, but are now ranked No. 20.
Southern Miss is just one game back of Coastal Carolina for the top seed in the Sun Belt, and ironically enough, the Ragin’ Cajuns could be the ones to help the Golden Eagles catch the Chants. Louisiana will take on Coastal Carolina this weekend in Lafayette, essentially playing for their postseason lives with the Sun Belt currently being viewed as a league that will only receive two at-large bids.
Southern Miss also rose from No. 12 to No. 8 in the Baseball America rankings.
Next Up: Regular-Season Finale at The Pete … and Hopefully a Long Postseason
Although it’s looking likely that Southern Miss will host a regional in Hattiesburg, none of that is official just yet. However, the Golden Eagles do know they have at least three more regular-season games to play in front of the lively fans at Pete Taylor Park.
To wrap up the regular season, the Golden Eagles will welcome Georgia Southern to Hattiesburg for one final Sun Belt series before the conference tournament gets underway. Georgia Southern may be the worst team record-wise (15-37,7-20) in the Sun Belt with the worst team ERA (8.57), but they’re also ranked third in batting average (.287) and hits (511).
Southern Miss is not only closing in on an opportunity to host a regional, but it also has a chance to secure a top-8 national seed, which would guarantee hosting Super Regionals in Hattiesburg if the Golden Eagles win their regional. However, none of that matters if the guys in Black and Gold don’t focus on Georgia Southern and take care of business this weekend. According to senior outfielder Ben Higdon, after Sunday’s series finale at James Madison, it appears that the Golden Eagles are bringing the right mindset.
“The message heading into the final series is simple from me: just win,” Higdon tells Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI.
“There’s a lot of stuff in front of us as we know, but there’s one common denominator to getting it done, and that’s us taking care of business and winning ball games. … We have so much more work to do. Hopefully, all of us seniors can be celebrated after the last pitch is thrown in Omaha.”
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