Southern Miss coaches and players admitted that they had no idea where the Golden Eagles might head for the eighth straight NCAA tournament regional.
Despite being unaware of their future, they were still surprised to learn that Southern Miss would be sent to the Knoxville Regional, reuniting with familiar foe Tennessee. The regional features Indiana (34-24-1), Northern Kentucky (35-22), and the No. 1 overall-seeded Volunteers (50-11), who defeated the Golden Eagles in the Hattiesburg Super Regional last year.
“Nobody in the state of Louisiana or Mississippi or Alabama hosted a regional and so things are going to be a little different then,” Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. “You are going to go to a place that you might not be accustomed to. It is what it is, but we are excited.
“Tennessee, what a program; it’s awesome that we will get to go to their place. We are not looking ahead by any means. We are thinking about Indiana, and that’s all we are focused on. Over the last nine years, I’ve learned that you never know. You don’t know until it gets put on that screen. Projections are just that, projections. Nobody knows except the people in that room last night making those decisions.”
To recap, Southern Miss lost to Tennessee in a three-game series that featured numerous weather delays. The Golden Eagles’ starting pitcher, Billy Oldham, got to throw only 4 1/3 innings, which featured him striking out five batters and allowing just one run off two hits before the game was suspended.
“We were pretty surprised,” Oldham said. “We got to play them last year, and we get to play them again in a regional. They were not too happy about coming to Hattiesburg so now we are going there. We’ll see what it’s like at their field.
“We’ll see how we go through the pitching order,” Oldham said. “Me and Niko (Mazza) both threw on Sunday. We’ll see what happens. They are a good team, and if we get to play them in Game 2, hopefully, we’ll see who is on the mound.”
Tennessee is fresh off winning the SEC tournament, while Southern Miss (41-18) won the Sun Belt for a second straight year. Northern Kentucky won the Horizon League tournament, while Indiana earned an at-large bid.
No. 2 seeded Southern Miss will open against No. 3 Indiana, while No. 1 Tennessee will face No. 4 Northern Kentucky. The Knoxville Regional is pair with the Greenville Regional, which includes No. 16 East Carolina, Wake Forest, VCU and Oral Roberts.
“They are not going to be intimidated," Ostrander said. "They are not going to be wowed. We played at the Pete, and it’s a pretty electric crowd and stuff. Whatever happens, there is not going to be anything that we haven’t seen. Our guys are going to keep their mindset of focusing on one pitch at a time, one inning at a time and one game at a time.”
The NCAA Regionals will begin on Friday with Southern Miss’ game against Indiana starting at 12 p.m. CDT.
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