Each week, I’ll be grading Southern Miss overall performance the week prior every Monday.
Normally, that will include the full week: midweek games and the weekend series. Since the season started Friday, we’re working with just the three-game set against UC Santa Barbara this time.
And fair warning — these grades may feel tough.
But if Southern Miss wants to be elite, and be a legitimate threat in June, then certain areas must be close to flawless. Ostrander has said that just getting in isn’t good enough anymore…the standard is now expected to host and win regionals.
With that in mind, here’s the first report card of 2026.
Starting pitching – C+
There’s a lot of people that might raise their eyebrow at this grade, but quite simply the starting pitching wasn’t good enough to win any of the games over the weekend. They can’t perform like that if they want to put themselves in the best position to win games.
Now, all three starting pitchers were on pitch counts which is important to know. But we really needed to see more command from all three guys on the mound.
Here are the final lines for each starting USM pitcher:
C. Allen: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 3 K, 71 TP (LOSS)
G. Harris: 3.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 59 TP (ND)
M. English: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 52 TP (ND)
Allen struggled to command his changeup on Friday and couldn’t punch batters out when he got them to two strikes. Harris was affected with a) getting his pitch count way up and b) couldn’t command his cutter. English, who looked probably the best out of the three, got up to 33 pitches in the first inning affecting the rest of his outing.
Ostrander said on Sunday that the starting pitching must be better ahead.
“Okay,” he said of starting pitching. “Not what we want, not what we expect. I think we can be better, and I think we will. But the other team had a lot to do with that. When you’re playing a team like that, your margin for error isn’t high.”
Bullpen – A
It can be argued that this unit is what won the series for Southern Miss.
When the games were tight, the bullpen didn’t blink and delivered in two key high leverage scenarios. The first was with Josh Och on Saturday. Och came in with two runners on, and no outs in a close ball game and got out of the inning with no damage, ultimately earning the win.
The next moment came in Sunday’s rubber match. Ostrander had said all week that more than likely he wasn’t going to throw any of his freshman pitchers in the fire early. Well, that didn’t happen because freshman Dylan Causey was called upon in the top of the eighth inning with a runner at first and no outs.
Causey delivered. UCSB bunted the runner to second, and Causey struck out the next two batters he faced, stranding the go-ahead run.
Causey would later tell The Pine Belt News that he was “stunned” when he was called on in the pen. And when he took the mound and fielded the bunt, he was just praying he didn’t kick it into the parking lot.
The bullpen gave up seven earned runs in 16 innings. Nine different pitchers saw action in relief over the weekend with JW Armistead and Camden Clark seeing action in multiple games. The staff as a whole walked eight batters with five of those being from the bullpen.
Lineup / Defense – B-
The lineup this week get a little pass because the UCSB Friday night guy was the best I’ve ever seen at Pete Taylor Park. Better than Chase Burns even I thought. The lineup was ok over the weekend, but there were a few concerns.
Kyle Morrison, Davis Gillespie and Ben Higdon had rough weekends. Morrison led off the series with a standup double and a homer in Friday’s game but then didn’t register another hit and struck out six times. Gillespie only got one hit, while big, still concerning for a guy who was in the four-hole on Friday. He struck out five times over the weekend. Higdon only got one hit over the weekend in 10 at bats and struck out once.
Southern Miss had six homers all by different guys which was encouraging to see, but only two doubles. Live and die by the homer, I guess?
Joey Urban and Drey Barrett were the best hitters as they each collected five hits and a homer. Urban led team in average with .455 and an OPS of 1.298.
Matthew Russo led the team in RBI’s with four and had the series winning RBI-walk.
The defensive play I thought was actually pretty good other than Harris not fielding a bunt in a big moment, and obviously Ty Long’s dropped pop-up.
Overall – B+
Looking at the stats, Southern Miss was very fortunate to take two out of three. But it kind of proves that this team is really good. They did not play their best baseball and won a gutsy series over a really, really good UCSB club.
It was a regional-caliber opponent. The atmosphere felt like June. The Golden Eagles handled adversity, showed late-game composure and proved they can win without playing their cleanest baseball.
That’s encouraging.
But this grading scale isn’t about being encouraging. It’s about being honest.
If this team wants to host — and that’s the expectation — then starting pitching has to be sharper. The lineup has to apply pressure earlier. The bullpen is there it seems, and good news, it’s only going to get better.
There’s a lot to like about a team that can take two of three from a quality opponent while still leaving room for improvement. That suggests growth is coming.
And that’s why the overall grade lands at a B+.
Strong start. Not dominant. Not flawless. But strong.
