Southern Miss thumped La. Tech. Where does USM stand now in the regional host picture?
With a 4-1 victory over Louisiana Tech Thursday night, the Southern Miss baseball team appears to have taken the lead in the pursuit of what could be Conference USA’s lone NCAA regional host site.
In addition to the big win over the Bulldogs on their home field, USM (37-17) was helped by Charlotte’s early dismissal from the C-USA tournament after two games. FAU eliminated Charlotte 9-8 in the first game on Thursday, significantly hurting the 49ers’ chances of hosting a regional in Gastonia, North Carolina, next weekend.
Tech (37-17) has a shot to erase USM’s advantage in the pursuit of an NCAA regional host site, but the Bulldogs will need to be at WKU on Friday and then take down Golden Eagles twice on Saturday to advance to Sunday’s 1 p.m. championship game.
USM will have Friday off and await the winner of WKU-La. Tech at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. If USM is unable to win that contest, the same two teams will play again at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
At the conclusion of Thursday’s game, the Golden Eagles were ranked No. 19 in RPI — ahead of both No. 26 La. Tech and No. 25 Charlotte. All three teams are still on the list of 20 programs under consideration to host regionals, but USM’s stock is on the rise while Tech and Charlotte have trailed off in the last week or two.
D1Baseball.com and Baseball America both listed Louisiana Tech as a projected host site entering Thursday’s action, but USM is in a strong position to supplant the Bulldogs if they can advance to the title game.
“We’re under consideration as one of the 20,” USM coach Scott Berry said. “We’ve just got to keep taking it game by game and put wins together.”
C-USA’s highest rated RPI squad, No. 12 Old Dominion, is not on the list of 20 teams, but the Monarchs are in great shape to advance out of the other side of the bracket with a record of 2-0 in tourney play so far. ODU will play the winner of Friday’s FAU-Middle Tennessee game at 9 a.m. on Saturday in the semifinal round.
Ryan Och delivers for the Golden Eagles
Sophomore left-hander Ryan Och turned in the most important performance of his career in relief Thursday night, holding La. Tech scoreless on two hits over four innings to earn the victory. He struck out seven batters and walked one.
USM redshirt senior right-hander Walker Powell got the start in Ruston and lasted 4 ⅓ innings. He gave up one run on four hits, striking out three and walking four.
Och replaced Powell with the bases loaded and one down in the fifth and put together a clutch performance — striking out back-to-back batters with good velocity and placement to leave the bases full of Bulldogs.
“I was just attacking the hitters and trusting the defense behind me,” Och said. “It’s just saying here’s my stuff … if you beat me, you beat me.”
Och began to tire some in the ninth inning and he was replaced by freshman right-hander Hurston Waldrep with men on first and second with one out.
Waldrep then retired the next two batters with his fastball hitting 97 miles per hour to record his second save of the season.
“He’s really come on strong the last month or two,” Och said of Waldrep. “He’s a huge addition to our bullpen and another guy we can count on.”
USM’s top batters
Redshirt sophomore second baseman Will McGillis, who injured his shoulder in the field but remained in the contest, finished 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs.
Sophomore third baseman Danny Lynch was also 3-for-4 as USM got nice production out of the bottom half of the lineup for the second consecutive game.
“We’ve got a good rhythm going 1-9,” McGillis said. “We’ve got different guys stepping up every night.”
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 2:14 AM.
