As a relief pitcher with the last name Storm, Justin Storm has heard the easy play on words with his nickname countless times.
"A lot," said Storm on how often he has to hear it. "Whether the Storm. Here comes the Storm. All of it."
Regardless, Storm lived up to all the nicknames, sayings and catchphrases. With the season on the line, the sophomore left-hander entered the game, having thrown just under 10 innings all season. Despite the unlikeliness, Storm turned in a memorable performance as he kept LSU scoreless for five innings to preserve Southern Miss' 8-4 win over the Tigers.
"I think the remarkable thing about Justin's outing, not only did he cover the five innings, but he had seven strikeouts and one walk," Berry said. "That is a key against a good offensive club like LSU that has a chance to put numbers up and put numbers up quickly.
"This was a time tonight I feel like that star was born. He had the opportunity on a very big stage."
Southern Miss came up with two straight wins as the Golden Eagles avoided elimination earlier in the day by walking off Kennesaw State in extra innings 4-3. Southern Miss now forces a winner-take-all game to decide the regional, with a win sending either team to a Super Regional. Southern Miss and LSU will square off at 3 p.m. on Monday.
Notably, with Miami being eliminated from the Coral Gables Regional, Southern Miss has the potential to host the Super Regional.
In Storm's outing, he threw a career-high of 85 pitches, struck out seven batters, walked one and gave up just two hits.
"I feel really tired," Storm said. "I was really super excited to get the opportunity. This is big boy baseball. That's a good club over there, and we think we have a good club as well. I was excited. Coming off the mound each time, (Pitching Coach Christian Ostrander) was asking me if I felt good. I had confidence and he had confidence.
"For me, it was just a belief that my time was coming."
Before Storm took the mound in the fifth inning, LSU took the lead in the first after Southern Miss starting pitcher Matt Adams gave up a 2-run home run to Cade Doughty.
Southern Miss got both runs back in the bottom of the second as Danny Lynch drove in the first run off an RBI single. After a single by Will McGillis, Gabe Montenegro hit into a double play, but Lynch managed to score to tie the game at 2-2.
LSU retook the lead in the top of the third after Doughty hit an RBI single. With two outs and the bases loaded, reliever Isaiah Rhodes threw a wild pitch to score a run but got out of the inning on the next pitch with a ground out.
Again, Southern Miss tied the game up in the bottom of the fame with Slade Wilks and Lynch hitting back-to-back RBI singles to tie the game at 4-4.
Storm stepped in relief of Isaiah Rhodes, who hit a batter to start the fifth inning, but retired the Tigers in order to end the threat.
Southern Miss then took the lead in the sixth as LSU's pitching staff struggled to find the strike zone with the Tigers' making three of their six pitching changes in the inning. Lynch led the inning off with a walk, which was later followed by a walk from Gabe Montenegro and a single by Rodrigo Montenegro to load the bases. Lynch gave USM the lead as he scored on a wild pitch. Dustin Dickerson hit an RBI single one at-bat later, with Rodrigo scoring on a balk to give the Golden Eagles a 7-4 lead.
From there, the game was on Storm's shoulders. After retiring LSU in order in the sixth, Storm fell into a jam in the seventh inning as he gave up a leadoff single. While Storm struck out the next batters, he gave up leadoff but induced a ground out to end the inning.
"Storm did a great job," LSU coach Jay Johnson said. "I heard Coach Berry say that he needed somebody to step up when you have fallen into the loser's bracket, so a nice job by him.
"He did a nice job. He had deception. He got us out of our plan and out of our zone."
Storm retired LSU in order again in the eighth inning. Carson Paetow then added a key insurance run in the bottom of the frame as he hit solo home run with two outs to extend USM's lead to 8-4
In the top of the ninth inning, Storm put two runners on base with two outs, but he again ended the threat by inducing a ground out to end the game.
"(Storm) hasn't been used a whole lot," Berry said. "But now that he has had a chance, he was prepared for the opportunity. The biggest thing was being prepared and not having the excuse that you haven't been out there.'
