Southern Miss baseball will be hosting a regional for the third time in program history. The Hattiesburg Regional became set as Southern Miss will host LSU, Kennesaw State and Army.
The Golden Eagles are the No. 11 national seed and are paired with the Coral Gables Regional for the Super Regional round.
The Coral Gables Regional includes No. 6 Miami, Arizona, Ole Miss and Canisius.
Southern Miss (43-16), which is the No. 1 seed in the regional, will open against Army (31-23) on Friday at 1 p.m. LSU (38-20) will be the No. 2 seed and will play Kennesaw State (35-26) as the No. 4 seed at 6 p.m. Both games will be shown on ESPN+.
The Golden Eagles previously hosted regionals in 2003 and 2017 and the sixth straight berth to the NCAA tournament for the Golden Eagles.
Southern Miss
The Golden Eagles enter the NCAA tournament after suffering one of its worst losses in two seasons in the Conference USA tournament. Since Southern Miss’ 15-game win streak, the Golden Eagles are 10-8 in their last 18 games.
An early exit likely prevented Southern Miss from obtaining a top-8 seed, which guarantees the chance to host a Super Regional. But the loss could be more of a blessing than a curse for the Golden Eagles, because Southern Miss will have a chance to adequately rest its pitching staff and allow them to prepare like a normal week.
The Golden Eagles’ staff is also statistically the best in the Hattiesburg Regional, with Southern Miss being the only team to have not one but two pitchers with over 100 strikeouts (Tanner Hall and Hurston Waldrep). For USM, it’s the first time the program has had two pitchers with 100 strikeouts since 1993.
Entering the regional, the Golden Eagles’ pitching staff is statistically one of the best in the country. USM’s pitching staff is ranked No. 1 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.39), second in team earned run average (3.16), second in WHIP (1.13) and second in strikeouts per nine innings (11.3).
The Golden Eagle lineup has been inconsistent, particularly with leaving runners on base, as USM leaves an average of 8.13 runners on base per game. In the last 11 games, that average has jumped to 9.3. Notably, USM’s .283 batting average is the lowest out of all the teams in the Hattiesburg Regional.
However, USM’s lineup is one of the best power-hitting teams in program history, with the Golden Eagles having five hitters putting up double-digit home runs for the first time since 1998. This year’s group includes Christopher Sargent (20), Will McGillis (15), Carson Paetow (13), Reece Ewing (10) and Slade Wilks (10).
Army
This will be the first time Southern Miss and Army will meet. The two programs will open the regional at 1 p.m. on Friday.
The Black Knights are making their fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance as they have won the Patriot League for a fourth straight year.
Army and Kennesaw State are tied for the highest batting averages at .301. The Black Knights led the Patriot League in batting average, runs (369), walks (234) and on-base percentage (388). Yet Army is not a power-hitting team, as the Black Knights have hit just 31 home runs this season, which tied for No.252 out of the 293 teams in the NCAA.
The Black Knights have three hitters batting over .340, with Sam Ruta posting a .385 average, who has belted 14 doubles, four triples and six home runs.
Army’s pitching staff holds a 4.76 team ERA. Left-handed pitcher Connelly Early, who was named First Team All-Patriot League honors, is the Black Knights’ Friday starter and the arm Southern Miss will likely face. In 15 appearances and 13 starts, Early holds a 3.39 ERA, has struck out 80 batters and has walked 34.
Army’s go-to reliever and another First Team All-Patriot League selection is right-hander Tanner Gresham. In 29.2 innings, Gresham posted a team-best ERA of 2.73 and has recorded five saves while striking out 27 batters and walking 14.
LSU
LSU is in its first season with head coach Jay Johnson at the helm. The Tigers have had ups and downs but featured one of the best offenses in the SEC behind only No. 1 Tennessee. LSU is second in batting average (.289), runs scored (471), hits (573), doubles (113), home runs (107) and on-base percentage (.404). Notably, the Tigers’ 107 home runs are ranked No. 11 in the country.
The most potent hitters in LSU’s lineup are Jacob Berry and Dylan Crews. Berry leads the team with a .381 average, has driven in 47 RBI and hit 15 home runs. Crews, who has .345 on the season, has belted nine doubles, eight triples, a team-leading 21 home runs and has driven a team-leading 68 RBIs.
The Tigers were without several players during the SEC tournament, including Berry (broken finger) and Cade Doughty (dislocated shoulder), but both are expected to return to the lineup for the Hattiesburg Regional. LSU has also been without catcher Alex Milazzo, who has missed most of the season due to a knee injury. Milazzo had one at-bat and spent an inning catching against Northwestern State on May 17 but did not play in the conference tournament.
Defensively, LSU’s fielding has been suspect, with the Tigers recording a fielding percentage of .961, which was ranked last in the SEC and ranks No. 235 in the country. On average, LSU commits 1.36 errors per game.
Yet the biggest question mark for the Tigers will be its pitching rotation. Out of the 15 LSU pitchers on the staff, 11 have started a game. Poor starts led to Johnson regularly changing his rotation and making decisions in the final few weeks of the season.
One of the main starting arms has been Ma’Khail Hilliard, who posts a 4.04 ERA, struck out 68 batters and walked 18.
This will be the fourth time in program history that Southern Miss and LSU are paired in a regional together, with the most recent occurring in the 2019 Baton Rouge Regional. The two programs also met in 2004 and 2008.
Kennesaw State
The Owls are a prime example of a team getting hot at the right time. After dropping its first two games in the Atlantic Sun Tournament, Kennesaw State won three straight elimination games, including an upset win over Liberty in the championship game.
The ASUN tournament title is the Owls’ first since 2014, the same year as Kennesaw State’s only other NCAA tournament appearance.
The Owls’ lineup has been critical for their postseason run, with Kennesaw State putting up over 10 hits in each conference tournament game.
Kennesaw State led the Atlantic Sun in team batting average as the Owls were the only team to bat over .300.
Josh Hatcher leads the lineup with a .386 batting average along with belting 25 doubles, 13 home runs and driving in 55 runs. Donovan Cash, the ASUN’s Freshman of the Year, batted .356, hit 20 doubles and 10 home runs and 57 RBIs. The team’s leading home run hitter, Cash Young, has hit 17 home runs, 14 doubles, driven in 58 runs and holds a .296 average.
Kennesaw State’s pitching staff holds a team ERA of 6.08 and has just one pitcher that has an ERA that’s under 4.00. The lone arm is left-handed starting pitcher John Bezdicek, who in 15 starts posts a 3.75 ERA and has struck out 81 batters and walked 31.
Updated Hattiesburg Regional Schedule:
Friday, June 3
Game 1 — No. 1 Southern Miss (43-16) vs. No. 4 Army West Point (31-23), 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 2 — No. 2 LSU (38-20) vs. No. 3 Kennesaw State (35-26), 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, June 4
Game 3 — Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser
Game 2, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 4 — Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, June 5
Game 5 — Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)
Game 6 — Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
Monday, June 6
Game 7 — If necessary, 3 p.m. (ESPN+)
