MONTGOMERY, Ala. – It had been 37 days since the last time Southern Miss lost a baseball game.
Unfortunately, for the Golden Eagles, the first defeat in over a month came at the most untimely moment as an equally hot Coastal Carolina team handed them a 7-5 loss, preventing a three-peat for the Sun Belt championship and ended a program record 18-game win streak.
The loss leaves Southern Miss’ fate to host a regional up to the NCAA committee, while it solidified Coastal Carolina’s, which won its 18th straight game and has momentum for a top eight seed.
“I think the body of work that these young men put together this year speaks for itself,” said Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander when asked if he felt his team should host. “We scheduled as hard as we could. They met that challenge, and they were successful with it. They had an unbelievable streak, and that’s hard to do at any level.
“I believe they have, but that’s not for me to decide. That’s out of our hands. I know this: there’s nothing more that these guys could have done to give ourselves a chance to do that.”
Despite homering three times, which broke the program’s single-season home run record, Southern Miss could never get the timely hit with runners on base. The Golden Eagles stranded 13 runners on base and left the bases loaded in three different innings.
“It was awesome for these guys to put themselves in a position where a hit could put a crooked number up,” Ostrander said. “You have to tip your hat to (Coastal’s) pitchers. That’s a really good staff as advertised. They did a great job and made it difficult.
“If we get one hit in those moments, it could be different.”
Southern Miss (44-14) held a 3-2 lead through four innings. The Chanticleers drove in each run from a fielder’s choice in the first and second innings. The Golden Eagles put up runs with solo homers by Joey Urban in the second and Ben Higdon in the fourth. Nick Monistere gave Southern Miss the lead with an RBI single.
“I like to look at baseball as a game of days. Maybe today we are 0-1, but that loss expires at midnight,” Higdon said. “Tomorrow, we can come back and go 1-0 on whatever day it may be, but we have a new opportunity. I believe in my heart that this team is very talented, and we have a lot of baseball to play.”
Things unraveled for the Golden Eagles in the fifth inning with a leadoff double, which was followed by a three-base throwing error from pitcher Landen Payne. The relief pitcher's misfire to first base allowed a run to score and then set up an RBI single. With the bases loaded an no outs, Coastal Carolina (48-11) capitalized with two more RBI singles that extended the Chanticleers' lead to 7-3.
“They fought, man,” Ostrander said. “Even after that big five-run inning, they got where the ball just didn’t bounce our way. Not to take anything away from (Coastal Carolina) they executed some good bunts. Sometimes the ball finds holes, and the chopper gets overheads and that nature, but they were able to capitalize.”
The Golden Eagles got a run back in the sixth after a pitch with bases loaded hit Matthew Russo, but back-to-back strikeouts killed the opportunity. Later in the eighth inning, Nick Monistere hit a solo home run to narrow the score to 7-5.
“I don’t think we are a team to dwell,” Monistere said. “We learn something from every loss, and we learn something from every win. I think we are going to take these feelings and emotions that we feel right now and use them as motivation for this weekend, whether we are in Hattiesburg or wherever we are. I don’t think this loss is going to affect us. I really don’t think we are going to dwell on it. I don’t think we are that kind of a team.”
The 2025 NCAA baseball tournament bracket will be revealed tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2. Southern Miss will host a watch part at Mugshots starting at 10:30 a.m.
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