Fresh off its first win of the Sun Belt Conference tournament against Georgia State on Wednesday, No. 8 Southern Miss is back in action against Troy on Friday at Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium. This winner’s bracket game was originally scheduled for Thursday, but due to rain delays on Wednesday, it was moved to 10 a.m. CT.
The top-seeded Golden Eagles come into Round 3 with a 41-14 record and winners of 10 straight, while the fourth-seeded Trojans come in with a 30-27 record and winners of two straight, including an 11-3 no-doubter over South Alabama on Thursday morning.
When the two ballclubs met at Pete Taylor Park in March, Troy took the first game of the series before Southern Miss stormed back to win the next two, securing the Sun Belt series win. Here are some important things you need to know ahead of Friday’s matchup.
Pitching Matchup Prediction
The Golden Eagles squeaked by with a series win the last time they faced the Trojans, but that was in the early stages of their mid-season lull and before they had their starting pitching rotation figured out. The starters on the mound for USM when facing Troy in March were Grayden Harris, McCarty English and Thomas Crabtree. Now, it’s Harris, Camden Clark and Camden Sunstrom.
If head coach Christian Ostrander follows the same pattern he has for the last several weeks, expect Clark to get the nod against Troy on Friday. In Clark’s first time pitching against the Trojans, he registered four strikeouts and gave up just one hit and no runs in 2.1 innings as the closer in USM’s 5-4 rubber-match win on March 22.
In 21 appearances this year, Clark has a perfect 8-0 record with a 2.35 ERA and 73 strikeouts to just seven walks.
Given that Troy didn’t pitch its typical “Friday night” guy in Benjamin Stubbs during its tournament-opening win against South Alabama, we’d expect him to get the call on Friday against the Golden Eagles.
Stubbs has a 5.23 ERA and a 4-3 record on the year, but one of those wins was the series opener against USM on March 20, where he gave up three runs in the first three innings, but then pitched four consecutive shutout frames to put the Trojans in a good position to win. He was arguably the only Troy pitcher who gave USM any problems that entire weekend.
With that being said, though, this Golden Eagles offense has been playing on a completely different level from where it was in March. It would also be their second time seeing Stubbs this season, so we’d expect that to play in USM’s favor.
What’s at Stake
Given that we’re in the double-elimination portion of this tournament, the winner of Friday’s game will be in the driver’s seat when it comes to a potential Sun Belt Championship berth. Either Southern Miss or Troy will enter Saturday’s semifinal round with no losses, meaning it will get two chances to win one game and advance to the championship.
The loser of Friday’s game will have to play a doubleheader elimination game against South Alabama later that evening, unless the weather changes the schedule. The Golden Eagles must do everything within their power to avoid this scenario.
How to Watch / Weather Forecast
Weather permitting, the Golden Eagles and Trojans will get things started at 11 a.m. CT on Friday, and the game will be available on ESPN+. Current forecasts call for a 95-percent chance of rain in Montgomery on Friday, but just a 35-percent chance at the time the game is supposed to start.
Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more updates and game coverage as this weekend progresses.
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