Southern Miss baseball blasting records in the middle of unprecedented season
Southern Miss is living out its own baseball history right now.
The Golden Eagles are in the midst of a record-breaking stretch and barreling toward new high marks in the 2022 season.
Heading into the weekend series at UAB, USM has won a school record 15 consecutive games and have reached 33 wins faster than in any other season in program history.
Southern Miss is ranked higher in the national polls than ever before, landing at No. 4 on D1-Baseball and as high as No. 3 on Perfect Game.
With a win over Southeast Louisiana on Tuesday, head coach Scott Berry tied Hill Denison for the most wins in school history with 468. Now, Berry and crew have another target: the record 50 wins the Golden Eagles won in 2017.
Dominance on the mound
Despite losing a pair of All-American starters and its top bullpen arm, USM’s pitching staff has improved by leaps and bounds.
From a Conference USA-leading 3.68 ERA in 2021, the Golden Eagles are pitching 2.68 baseball. That still leads the conference, just by a much wider margin.
A stout weekend rotation anchored by one of Sunday’s best starters across the landscape in Hurston Waldrep has USM No. 2 in the nation in both team ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Strong midweek pitching has also led to a dramatic turnaround in the Golden Eagles’ midweek fortunes, leading to a boost in RPI and national status.
As a team, USM is massively outpacing its own team strikeout rate record. In 2017, the last time the Golden Eagles hosted a regional, USM record 8.8 strikeouts per game. This year, that number is up to 11.5.
Sophomore and Friday starter Tanner Hall is at the forefront of USM’s punchout factory. He’s struck out a C-USA-best 90 batters while putting together a 1.98 ERA and 0.86 WHIP.
Once opponents do get into the bullpen, their situations haven’t improved by much. Landon Harper, Garrett Ramsey, Isaiah Rhodes, Aubrey Gillentine and Dalton Rogers all have an ERA under 2.50 through 64 combined appearances.
Improvement at the plate
A similar story has played for Eagle batsmen. Despite losing a top-draft pick from its outfield, USM has found a way to get better at the plate.
The emergence of Slade Wilks and his team-leading 22 extra base hits have elevated the group. As a team, USM is picking up 9.7 hits a game over last season’s 8.9.
Contributions are coming across the lineup, too. The steady Dustin Dickerson and rising star Carson Paetow are both riding a 24-game on-base streak, Will McGillis’ .994 OPS is best by a USM infielder in a full season since Luke Reynolds in 2018 and Rodrigo Montenegro’s .424 OBP is best by a catcher since Austin Roussel in 2013.
Between stellar pitching and hitting, the Golden Eagles are putting together an unprecedented season. There’s still a month of regular season ball to play and a conference tournament to host in late May.
With history already being made in Hattiesburg, there’s still history for the Golden Eagles to chase.
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 1:43 PM.
