Southern Miss Baseball Opens NCAA Hattiesburg Regional Against Little Rock

The University of Southern Mississippi baseball team begins its NCAA Hattiesburg Regional Friday at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field. The Golden Eagles face No. 4 seed Little Rock at 12 p.m. Central Time. The game was moved up an hour last Thursday due to forecasted rain, according to the school.

Southern Miss, the Sun Belt regular season and tournament champion, will host its second consecutive regional and fifth overall. The field also includes No. 2 Virginia and No. 3 Jacksonville State. Virginia and Jacksonville State play at 6 p.m. Friday. Both regional games can be streamed via ESPN+, and the Southern Miss game is available on the Southern Miss Sports Network and SouthernMiss.com.

The Golden Eagles are making their 10th straight NCAA Tournament appearance and 22nd overall. They hold a 39-45 record in NCAA play, with three regional titles and one super regional victory. Their only College World Series appearance was in 2009.

Southern Miss finished May with a 13-1 record, including winning the Sun Belt Tournament with an 11-7 victory over Louisiana in the final. The team’s batting average during May was .317, their highest of the year, and their earned run average was 3.34.

Seven players are hitting over .300 this season, led by Matthew Russo at .317. Davis Gillespie is hitting .316, Joey Urban .314, Kyle Morrison and Seth Smith .313 each, and Ben Higdon .308. Sophomore right-hander Camden Clark, with an 8-0 record and 2.88 ERA, is expected to start for the Golden Eagles in the opener.

Little Rock enters the regional after winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship last weekend. The Trojans look to advance beyond the regional stage for the first time in recent history.

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