It was only fitting that a series that felt more like a Super-Regional in June than an opening weekend in February ended in chaos.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and the crowd at Pete Taylor Park on its feet, Matthew Russo never saw a strike. UC Santa Barbara reliever Nic Peterson missed four times, and Russo raised his arms as Seth Smith touched home plate, giving Southern Miss a 6-5 walk-off victory to clinch a dramatic opening weekend series against UCSB.
“It was the easiest walk-off of my life,” Russo said.
In a three-game set that featured momentum swings, frontline arms and postseason intensity, the only appropriate ending was one that required nine full innings and a little bit of nerve.
“That felt like a super regional series right there,” Russo said. “That was the definition of a team win.”
The victory marked Southern Miss’ 34th walk-off win since the start of the 2017 season. The three-day attendance total of 16,518 set a facility record for an opening weekend.
Russo’s bases-loaded walk — his fourth career walk-off RBI, the most by a Golden Eagle since 2017 — capped a ninth inning that was as frantic as the entire weekend.
With the score tied 5-5, Tucker Stockman led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single. Ty Long followed by drawing a six-pitch walk. After Kyle Morrison laid down a sacrifice bunt and Joey Urban was intentionally walked to load the bases, Russo stepped in.
“The only reason I’m in that position is because you get Tucker putting that ball in play,” Russo said. “Ty drawing that walk right after he makes that mistake. That just shows you the type of player he is.”
The mistake Russo referenced came moments earlier.
Southern Miss appeared poised to close the game in the top of the ninth after Camden Clark, who recorded the save Saturday, induced a pop-up by Cade Goldstein to shortstop with two outs. Long settled under it, but the ball popped out of his glove, allowing Goldstein to reach first base.
Two pitches later, Cole Kosciusko smashed a ball to center field for an RBI triple to tie the game at 5-5.
Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander made a mound visit as the ballpark fell silent.
“I just told him, it’s really easy to deflate in that moment,” Ostrander said. “But you can’t control what happened. Stay within yourself. Win the next pitch.”
Clark responded by striking out the next hitter to strand the go-ahead run at third.
“That punch-out he got there to end that inning was huge and showed a lot of poise,” Ostrander said. “I’m not surprised.”
Clark ultimately earned the win, improving to 1-0 after allowing an unearned run in the ninth.
It was really the theme of the weekend for Southern Miss. The bullpen proved to be the difference in the two games the Golden Eagles won.
Southern Miss’ starting pitching was solid but not dominant against a disciplined UCSB lineup. Freshman McCarty English made his first career weekend start Sunday, working three innings on 52 pitches. He allowed two runs in the opening frame, including a run-scoring single from Goldstein and a solo homer from Nick Husovsky.
“I thought his stuff looked good,” Ostrander said. “Pitch count got up in the first inning. In our mind, about 55 pitches is where he was at. I told him, ‘Hey man, you did your job. Let’s build off that.’ It was really refreshing to see him out there.”
Asked to assess the weekend rotation as a whole, Ostrander was measured.
“Okay,” he said. “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.”
UC Santa Barbara’s approach forced that margin to shrink. The Gauchos didn’t chase and punished mistakes.
“Every pitch this weekend felt like you couldn’t make a mistake,” Ostrander said. “That’s a really good team.”
Southern Miss (2-1) trailed 2-1 into the sixth inning before surging ahead with a three-run frame. Russo opened the inning with his first home run of the year, a 427-foot shot to right field to tie the game at two apiece.
“I got a slider and it just wasn’t what I wanted to hit,” Russo said. “Then he hung a changeup and I think I got it pretty good, but with the wind it carried well. It was fun, first one of the year for me.”
After a walk and single, Davis Gillespie delivered a run-scoring double to give the Golden Eagles their first lead, and Stockman added a sacrifice fly to push it to 4-2.
Gillespie, who struggled early in the series, delivered when needed.
“His first two games didn’t come easy,” Ostrander said. “But he drew some walks and got that big double. We trust Davis.”
The Gauchos responded immediately.
In the top of the seventh, Goldstein launched a two-run homer to tie the game at four apiece. Southern Miss didn’t score in the bottom of the seventh, and UCSB’s Jonathan Mendez walked to lead off the eighth inning.
Ostrander then inserted true freshman Dylan Causey in his first appearance on the mound as a Golden Eagle 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.
“It was a team effort,” Causey said. “Just really grateful for the opportunity and for the coaches to trust me in that situation.”
Ostrander believes the moment could be a springboard.
“That’s a moment that’s going to catapult his career, in my opinion,” he said. “He was stone cold.”
In a series defined by slim margins, Southern Miss’ bullpen repeatedly delivered in high-leverage situations in both the Saturday and Sunday games.
The Golden Eagles outlasted UCSB (1-2) in back-to-back comeback wins to take the series.
“We were trying to compete early,” Russo said. “We’ve got a tough schedule this year. Coach Oz wanted that to prepare us for what comes later in the year.”
Southern Miss will travel to Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. first pitch before heading to Round Rock, Texas, over the weekend to play in the Round Rock Classic.
