MONTGOMERY, Ala – Maintaining Southern Miss’ tradition of winning has been coach Scott Berry’s message since his retirement announcement.
Berry’s Golden Eagles did just that as they pulled out a 6-2 victory to defeat Louisiana in the Sun Belt Conference Championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The win is the fourth conference tournament title in Berry’s tenure and extends the program’s streak to seven straight NCAA tournament appearances as well as maintained its 7-year streak of 40-win seasons earlier in the week, which is the longest active in Division I.
“It’s outstanding, but that’s what we like the expectation to be at Southern Miss baseball,” Berry said. “That’s the way it’s been for a while. I told these guys, especially the new guys, that the ones that have been here and shared championships with us know the expectations that are placed upon us.
“I want the new guys to understand that this is not something that just happens. This happens for a reason. It’s the hard work that we put in, and the commitment that our guys do in their work, weight room, our coaches and everybody that invests in our opportunity invests for this opportunity that we made for ourselves to cash in and win a championship.”
The Golden Eagles’ lineup belted three home runs in the win, while a dominant relief outing by Justin Storm kept UL scoreless for five straight innings.
The first run of the game came in the third inning after Dustin Dickerson hit a solo homer in the third inning. After UL (40-22) responded with a pair of runs, Danny Lynch evened the score with a home run. Storm took over on the mound in the fourth and racked up eight strikeouts, gave up just two walks and three hits.
“At this point, it’s all out. We want to win a championship,” Storm said. “Everything else is out the window. When you show up on championship Sunday, it doesn’t matter if you are sore or if you are tired. You have to forget it, and you have to play.
“I feel like maybe I didn’t have my best stuff today. You saw that kind of at the end there. I got a little tired and lost a little command. Thankfully Coach (Christian Ostrander) had confidence in me and stuck with me. I was playing on the fastball and slider today, inside and outside, and trying to move the ball around and keep them off time. They are a good-hitting club there.”
Southern Miss (41-17) retook the lead with an RBI single by Dickerson in the fifth inning, with Slade Wilks then cushioned the lead with a 2-run home run that just got over the right field wall. Blake Johnson tacked on one more run with an RBI double in the eighth.
Dickerson, Lynch and Christopher Sargent were named to the all-tournament team, while Tanner Hall was named the tournament’s MVP.
“I don’t want (a championship) for me,” Berry said. “I want it for them. They are the ones that work so hard. They come out and have to juggle their academics with athletics. It’s a full-time job with that. It means more to me that these seniors get to go out with that taste in their mouth and lay their mark in the long history of Southern Miss baseball.”
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