Ben Higdon giveth, and Ben Higdon taketh away.
After Southern Miss' transfer outfielder swung his bat in the top of the eighth inning, it was obvious that he knew there was zero doubt that he launched a three-run homer that broke open Southern Miss' 8-1 win over Columbia in the Hattiesburg Regional.
Earlier in the game, just after the Golden Eagles got on the board from an RBI single by Nick Monistere, Higdon found himself having to make a leaping catch to rob a home run ball in the bottom of the frame to preserve Southern Miss' early lead.
"That fires me up right there," said USM freshman pitcher Grayden Harris on watching Higdon's catch. "When you are on the mound, and your defense is showing that they are giving it their all for you, it's a big thing. When I'm on the mound, I'm trying to give it my all for them. Every single pitch I'm trying to stay dialed in for the hitters and for the team. When they show that on defense, it fires me up, it makes it fun to be out there."
Higdon's heroics not only kept Southern Miss' season alive, as the Golden Eagles will face Miami in the regional final later tonight, but also gave the program a chance to host a Super Regional with No. 1 Vanderbilt getting eliminated by Wright State earlier in the day.
"I was just out there trying to win a game," Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said. "Nothing changes. We have a good opponent we are fixing to tie up with, so we have to go out there and fight and do everything we can to win this game tonight and force it to a winner-take-all. We have done that before."
The Lions did tie the game up with a two-out RBI single, but Harris kept Columbia (30-19) off the board for the rest of his outing. Harris delivered a career-long outing of 6.1 innings, during which he gave up just four hits, walked one batter and struck out two.
"Going into this outing, I knew I had to attack the hitters early," Harris said. "I knew if I did that then good things would happen. I just had to trust my stuff up there."
With the game tied at 1-1, Southern Miss (46-15) caught a pair of lucky breaks in the sixth and seventh innings. Columbia's second baseman bobbled a groundball and failed to turn an inning-ending double play, which instead allowed for Drey Barrett to score on a throwing error to home plate. In the next inning, the second baseman bobbled another grounder, which turned into Tucker Stockman driving in a run from a fielder's choice.
After Higdon's homer in the eighth inning, Lawson delivered a pinch-hit RBI single with Monistere driving in the final run from a fielder's choice.
Southern Miss is no stranger to forcing winner-take-all matchups, as the Golden Eagles did so in the 2021 Oxford Regional, the 2022 Hattiesburg Regional, and the 2023 Auburn Regional.
"We know what that looks like," Ostrander said. "It's not easy, and it's going to be hard, but we are thankful to be in a position where we can go play the best nine innings we can tonight and see if we can get another game in the Pete tomorrow."
First pitch for Southern Miss' matchup against Miami is set for 6:36 p.m.
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