For the first time in Sun Belt play this season, Southern Miss looked like itself again.
And in the process, the No. 22 ranked Golden Eagles might have found the answers to the questions they had exactly when they needed them.
Southern Miss finished off a three-game sweep of Texas State with a 5-4 win in 10 innings on Sunday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park, using a walk-off wild pitch to cap a weekend that could prove to be a turning point in its season.
The Golden Eagles entered the series on a three-game losing streak, searching for consistency on both sides of the ball. They leave it alone in second place in the Sun Belt standings, with renewed momentum heading into the back half of the season.
“It’s about momentum,” Christian Ostrander said. “We’ve seen what these guys can do when they’re on top of that wave and riding it. You know, play very confident, relaxed baseball. We’ve had a hard time getting back to that. So hopefully these last three games will carry over.”
Like in Saturday’s game, Southern Miss fed off the momentum in the stadium and capitalized on its opportunities, something that hasn’t been apparent over the .500 ball they played over the past several weeks.
With the score tied at 4-4 in the 10th inning, Drey Barrett drew a leadoff walk before Ty Long entered as a pinch runner. After a flyout and a single from Tucker Stockman moved Long to third, a pitch in the dirt got away from the catcher, allowing Long to race home with the winning run.
It marked Southern Miss’ fifth walk-off victory of the season and its first extra-inning game since March 29, 2025.
The finish was fitting for a weekend in which Southern Miss consistently played from in front and leaned on its pitching staff to close games out.
Just as important, it may have solidified something the Golden Eagles have been searching for all season.
A Sunday starter.
Camden Clark, making his first start of the year after working primarily out of the bullpen, delivered 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out eight and issuing no walks.
“Yeah, he looked really good,” Ostrander said. “He pounded the zone and I thought he got about the pitch count where we wanted it. He probably got a little tired there at the end, to be expected, but that’s good for his growth. But no, Cam did exactly what we hoped he would do, just go out there and set the tone and comes out of the game with a 3-2 lead. I’ll take that any day.”
The original plan was for Clark to come in and close the game on Friday, like he’s done for several weeks, and then get them started out of the gate on Sunday, maybe 40 to 50 pitches or so.
But with Grayden Harris’ start and Colby Allen closing that game out, it led to Clark being able to give himself a true start.
Clark said the opportunity was one he had been waiting for. He explained that Ostrander came to him on Thursday and pitched to him the idea of starting, and Clark was ready for that opportunity.
“When I got here, I wanted to start,” Clark said. “So it’s good experience.”
After relying primarily on a fastball and changeup out of the bullpen, Clark mixed in a slider and curveball Sunday, giving Texas State a different look each time through the order.
“In the role I was in before, you can go in and just throw your fastball as hard as you want, having two pitches,” Clark said. “But I never really needed a slider until this weekend.”
That expanded arsenal, combined with the two pitches he already had, gave Ostrander his answer to his rotation that he’s been searching for all season.
“Man, when you’ve got a strike thrower like he is that has four pitches that he can choose from, that’s really hard to prepare for,” Ostrander said.
Clark’s outing also completed a weekend in which Southern Miss received strong starts across the board.
Grayden Harris and Camden Sunstrom each turned in quality starts earlier in the series, helping the Golden Eagles establish control early in games and limit the strain on the bullpen.
“It’s huge. That takes pressure off the bullpen. It lengthens out your staff. But more important than that, just kind of setting the tone, letting you be in games.”
That tone defined the entire weekend.
Southern Miss struck first in all three games, allowing its pitching staff to attack from ahead. Against a Texas State lineup that entered the series leading the Sun Belt in home runs, the Golden Eagles allowed just one long ball across the three games.
They also generated consistent swing and miss.
Southern Miss pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts Sunday and recorded 39 strikeouts over the weekend’s 84 outs, repeatedly escaping potential trouble without allowing balls in play.
“Anytime you have swing and miss capabilities, you can get out of jams,” Ostrander said. “You can work out of things. If you walk a guy, you’ve got a chance to get a strikeout to negate it. Our guys really pitched well all week, and that’s a really good offense.”
Clark agreed but said the strikeout performance is what you should expect from the staff.
“That just says what we have, what we’re capable of,” Clark said. “We just got to keep doing it.”
The bullpen followed suit Sunday.
After Texas State tied the game in the ninth on a two-out run-scoring double from Dawson Park, Southern Miss turned to Thomas Crabtree in the 10th. The right-hander retired the side in order, striking out two to set the stage for the walk-off.
“His stuff’s good,” Ostrander said. “Using him in three or six-out roles, I think that could be very valuable moving forward.”
While the pitching set the tone, the offense provided timely moments.
Matthew Russo delivered one of the biggest swings of the day in the eighth inning, launching a solo home run to right field to give Southern Miss a 4-3 lead at the time.
“I got down 0-2 on a cutter and then an up and away heater,” Russo said. “And I think it was like a 1-2 count. And somehow, some way, I got another splitter and I hit it. I kept it low enough to where the wind didn’t affect it. Big moment. It was fun.”
Even after Texas State answered in the ninth, Southern Miss never lost its composure.
That response, Russo said, felt familiar.
“Just remember who we are, how talented we are,” Russo said. “Go back to those chapters where we had games like that, and just recognize the way that we were playing, the way our bodies felt and the way our minds felt.”
For much of the past several weeks, that identity just hasn’t been there.
At times, the offense struggled to string together hits. The bullpen had difficulty closing out games. Momentum proved difficult to sustain.
This weekend, those issues were absent.
“We’ve been preaching as an offense that it’s time to run, no more jogging around throughout games,” Russo said. “We’re sprinting. It’s our time to go. It was a fun weekend, really important weekend for us.”
Now, Southern Miss has something it has been chasing.
Momentum.
“It’s a real thing,” Ostrander said. “Hopefully it’ll carry.”
If it does, this weekend may be remembered as the point when the Golden Eagles began to look like themselves again.
The Golden Eagles return to action Tuesday when they play host to Tulane at 6 p.m. It will be the team’s final home non-conference game of the regular season.
