Southern Miss lineup and pitching staff predictions for the 2023 season
College baseball season has arrived underneath the pines of Pete Taylor Park.
The Southern Miss Golden Eagles will debut a new and highly-anticipated season as a preseason top-25 team that will be battling in a Sun Belt that figures to now be one of the best five leagues in the country.
Southern Miss is fresh off a season in which the Golden Eagles hosted a regional and super regional for the first time in program history.
Head coach Scott Berry’s club hasn’t missed the postseason since 2015 and are the SBC’s preseason favorite to win the conference in the Golden Eagles’ first season under the Sun.
“We’re at a point right now where we’re just ready to go out and play,” Berry said on Tuesday. “We had a great fall camp, outside of losing Chandler Best... We’ve remained healthy ever since then. I thought we had a very competitive camp and fall.”
The team has scrimmaged eight times this spring and is more than ready to share its field with the Liberty Flames on opening weekend.
Southern Miss will look a little different in some ways from last year when the Flames do arrive. New pieces have been inserted and familiar faces will have new roles.
Here’s what the lineup and pitching staff could look like during the first weekend of college baseball.
Lineup projection
The buzzing excitement generating around this year’s team is centered on an offense that is shaping up to be a deep and explosive card.
“At times, this spring, it’s looked really good,” Berry said. “The potential is certainly there... there’s some areas that are very exciting with what the possibilities could be.”
The lineup returns seven starters from last year and adds two junior college transfers and a four-year transfer to the mix.
The offensive attack will have a bit more juice to it and it all starts at the new bat at the top of the order.
1. CF Matthew Etzel
Etzel was the nation’s top-ranked junior college transfer and is regarded as a lineup-altering piece to the puzzle. Referred to as “elite” by his teammates, Etzel has a plus bat, hits for power and gracefully covers ground in center.
“He has an innate ability to get on base,” Berry said. “A unique blend of doubles-power and speed. I think he’s going to hit a lot of doubles because he’s very quick out of the box. He’ll have the ability to steal some bases for us. He makes playing center field look very easy. One of the best, if not the best, I’ve seen going on 23 years here at Southern Miss at that center field position.”
The importance of the first batter is not lost on Berry or those who watched the Golden Eagles last year go on a 15-game win streak after inserting Carson Paetow into the leadoff spot.
2. SS Dustin Dickerson
Dickerson made improved by leaps in bounds last year over what was already a solid 2021 campaign. His strikeout rate dropped to just 10.8 percent and his OPS jumped from .740 to .806. His glove at short was nothing short of dazzling, too, especially down the stretch.
The fourth-year has played a lot of baseball at The Pete and is likely to see his role increase even further this season.
3. RF Carson Paetow
The sophomore from Vancleave broke out in 2022 with 31 extra base hits and a .929 OPS that leads all returning players. He also led the team in strikeouts with 68, but has made that an area of focus over the offseason.
“I’m trying to limit strikeouts, obviously I’m working on all of it, but I’ve been focusing mostly on strikeouts,” Paetow told the Sun Herald.
Paetow is the closest thing to Etzel the rest of the lineup has with his rare combination of bat strength and athleticism in the outfield. For that reason, expect to continue seeing him among the first three batters to step into the box.
4. 1B Christopher Sargent
When healthy, Sargent is the beating heart of the order. He led in home runs a year ago with 21, in total bases with 150 and extra base hits with 32.
Sargent recently enjoyed a four-hit game during a scrimmage. When it comes a packed middle-of-the-order, Sargent’s place at the top of Power Row is nearly etched in stone.
5. 3B Danny Lynch
Lynch and Sargent won’t beat any balls around the basepaths, but their consistent presence at the corners of the diamonds have given the Eagles a lot consistency and familiarity in the infield.
Lynch regressed a bit at the plate in 2022 and his spring production has been a bit up-and-down. His durability and experience, along with a bat that has produced 212 hits in his USM career, make him immovable from the hot corner.
6. LF Tate Parker/Reece Ewing
The battle at left field is still “ongoing,” according to Berry, and it could run well into the season. Incumbent Ewing is joined by Pearl River product and national champion Parker.
Parker is coming off a monster sophomore season in JUCO where slashed .450/.531/.820, hit 19 home runs and stole 18 bases. Ewing, who is also a former PRCC Wildcat, set career-highs in nearly every batting stat in his second season at USM.
Berry has alluded to likely needing to platoon the two bats in left field in order to get them both the plate appearances they need.
7. DH Slade Wilks
When Wilks puts the bat on the ball, there may not be another Golden Eagle with as much raw power as Wilks possesses. He was fourth on the team last season in OPS at .905, but, similar to Paetow, struggled with the strikeout.
Those struggles have lingered into fall and spring camp, but Wilks is beginning to find the swing again as spring comes to a close. Wilks hit a two-run blast to left field against Justin Storm and then a towering homer to right field off Nick Monistere over the last two scrimmages.
This is a spot in the order that could see some new faces at times throughout the season. Third catcher and Alabama transfer Graham Crawford has a plus bat and redshirt freshman infielder Matthew Russo has power to all fields.
8. C Blake Johnson
Johnson missed a chunk of last season with an injury, but is fully healthy as the team’s best defensive backstop. Johnson’s bat is also beginning to come around just in time for his last year of eligibility.
He improved significantly next to the plate in ‘22 and is ready to build on it this season after resting over the fall.
“My big thing this year, knowing it’s my last year, is enjoying it, without a doubt,” Johnson said. “Taking in every moment that I get, but at the same time I want to be the best I can be.”
9. 2B Gabe Lacy
The last two spots in the order could be occupied by a pair who just can seem to separate themselves from each other. Johnson and Lacy were teammates at Gulfport High, Jones College and now at USM with Lacy’s arrival from Tennessee Tech.
Lacy is still locked in one of the two position battles that Berry expects to rage on through at least February. Lacy’s experience in the middle infield is a huge plus, given the shoes he is filling in the graduated Will McGillis.
He’ll be battling young infielders in Brady Faust, Creek Robertson and even Monistere for playing time at second.
Staff projection
Before USM put together the second-best pitching staff in baseball a year ago, and the best that Berry has had at USM, there were question marks.
Fast forward a year and there are a whole new set of questions for Berry and pitching coach Christian Ostrander. Two weekend starters moved on, five relievers were drafted and another transferred out. To make matters trickier, Best, a lefty, is out for the season and that leaves Storm as the only known commodity at LHP.
“The young guys are going to see the mound, I think they’re capable of handling this level,” Berry said. “It’s going to come with some growing pains, obviously, but with that being said I think these guys have the ability to grow and grow up fast.”
Berry declined to reveal who will make up the rotation for the upcoming Liberty series, but several names stand out as favorites to land full-time weekend roles.
Rotation
1. Tanner Hall
The only no-brainer of the staff, Hall put together an All-American campaign in 2022 with a biting sinker that contributed to his 2.81 ERA. Hall possesses strong command to compliment his low-velocity fastball, evident by his 1.16 BB/9 rate next to his 12.06 K/9 rate.
2. Niko Mazza
Hurston Waldrep emerged as a fireball-throwing Saturday starter last season and electrified fans with each of his 140 strikeouts. Then he transferred to Florida. His replacement could be another arm with a live fastball.
Mazza has started several of the final scrimmages and has shown good command of his mid-90s fastball.
3. Billy Oldham
If anything feels familiar to Oldham opening weekend, it’ll be the 50-degree weather that is expected in Hattiesburg. The Eastern Connecticut State transfer is moving up a couple levels from D-III and it may take some getting-use-to when he faces D-I hitters.
He made 26 starts at ECSU, though, and carried with him a 2.81 career ERA.
Weekday starter
Matt Adams
Adams has been on the cusp of breaking through and he’ll get his chance to finally do so this season. While he could very well end up starting on the first weekend over Oldham, the staff may want to see what a weeknight start will produce.
Adams has excellent strikeout stuff, but he’s struggled to miss the big part of the bat at times in his short stints on the mound.
Bullpen
This is where the Golden Eagles are going to learn a lot about their staff through the rest of the month and into March.
Justin Storm has solidified his role as the go-to lefty middle relief arm and will likely be heavily relied upon throughout the year in the middle and back-end of the pen. Right-hander Isaiah Rhodes pairs with him as the other arm with significant experience in Black and Gold.
Nebraska transfer Tyler Martin is emerging as a formidable option off the bench, as well, with a good mix between his fastball and changeup.
Berry mentioned during media day that Dickerson will also be expected to pitch out of the pen. Dickerson’s only relief appearance of his career so far came in the 2021 Conference USA tournament, but his teammates and coaches have long touted his abilities on the mound.
The two arms that have the biggest boom-or-bust potential as setup men and closers are from freshman J.B. Middleton and Dallas Baptist transfer Luke Trahan. Middleton has already developed a strong slider to compliment his speedy fastball.
Among several other names that will put some outs under their belt, Kros Sivly is an under-the-radar name to watch. The redshirt freshman is a lefty arm and has enough potential to emerge as a solid second LHP option after Storm.
“We feel good about the guys that we have, that we’re going to put out there,” Berry said. “Like I said, we’re going to have to figure it out as we go and it’s going to go with some growing pains, but we’ll grow from it and hopefully be better for it.”
The good news is that the coaching staff, particularly coach Ostrander, has done well with building pitching staffs out of unknowns. Of the five pitchers drafted last year, only Ben Ethridge had more than 20 innings pitched at USM prior to the 2022 season. The other four combined for just 30.1 innings before enjoying breakout seasons.
Southern Miss will open the new campaign with a weekend series at home against the Flames beginning Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
