Mississippi State? Check. Alabama? Check. No team is hotter than USM baseball right now.
There are few teams in the country that have been hotter on a work day than Southern Miss.
The Golden Eagles have won four consecutive midweek contests and have done so against impressive competition.
The list of victims start with the reigning national champions in Mississippi State and include another SEC school thanks to a 3-2 win over Alabama on Wednesday night.
In between, USM exercised its demons against South Alabama and dropped off what was then a nationally ranked Tulane squad.
The 4-1 start to the weekday schedule is in direct contrast to the 1-5 record the team had in such games last season. But that was last year.
“I just think that some of these guys have been in the program, they understand it,” Head Coach Scott Berry said after the Alabama win. “They continue to develop on the mound, not only physically but mentally in their approach and how they do it... We don’t hurt ourselves very often.”
Big pitching performances have been the theme for Southern Miss and Berry acknowledges sophomore right-hander Tanner Hall has been a major factor in the success the team has had in mid-weeks.
Hall pitched masterful outings in starts against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Tulane Green Wave. Between the two games, he threw 15 innings without allowing an earned run and struck out 21 batters while walking just one.
The bullpen has also played a significant role in such games. Against South Alabama, the Jaguars had plenty of offensive momentum until Dalton Rogers arrived on the mound and three 3.2 shut down innings that featured six strikeouts and only one hit allowed.
Landon Harper then completed the save and ended a six game skid USM had going into to the Jaguars matchup.
Beating Alabama Crimson Tide
That depth in the pen was put to the test against an Alabama team that showed up to Pete Taylor Park averaging nearly six runs a game. A seven-pitcher effort stymied the Crimson Tide to just two runs.
Alabama had its opportunities — picking up nine hits and drawing a walk — but was held hitless with runners in scoring position and went just 2-13 with a base runner on as the USM staff shined in high leverage spots.
“The question about deep, that’s what I see,” Berry said. “We’re really deep on the mound. We’re not deep position player wise, but we’re deep on the mound and that’s where we invest.”
The weekly showings the staff has produced doesn’t come as a surprise to the men in the field, either. Even after losing a pair of All-Americans from last year’s team, the Golden Eagles have been able to replace and improve.
“I’m very confident in our pitching staff,” outfielder Carson Paetow said. “We have a really good staff. All of them are really good down there. They work really hard, they put in the work and it shows on the field.”
The team’s 2.59 ERA paces Conference USA and is top 15 in the country. Condensed to midweek games that number drops even further to 2.02.
Picking up big wins now and the rest of the way in between weekend contests could pay dividends down the stretch when postseason conversations heat up.
“Since I’ve been here we’ve been really bad at midweeks,” Infielder Danny Lynch said. “I want to say last year we were 1-5. My freshman year, I don’t remember, it felt like we were 3-10. It’s huge to get those midweek wins. When you look at the end of the season and you’re looking at whether you’re a regional team or you’re not a regional team or whether you’re a host or not a host. Last year we went 1-5, if we went 5-1 we might’ve ended up hosting.”
Southern Miss opens conference play this weekend against Florida Atlantic at home.
