Southern Miss takes Auburn regional, advances to super regionals against Tennessee
Scott Berry will coach another series.
Southern Miss battled out of the loser’s bracket in Auburn to take the regional and claim a spot in the Super Regionals for the second straight year.
The Golden Eagles defeated Penn, 11-7, in the regional final on Monday and will host Tennessee in the NCAA baseball tournament’s second round.
The power supplied by the bat of shortstop Dustin Dickerson helped fuel USM’s push on the Plains.
Heading into the Sun Belt Tournament two weekends ago, Dickerson had six career home runs in 195 games played. He’s launched four long balls in the last seven games, including three in the Auburn regional.
Dickerson’s three-run homer in the sixth in Monday’s game broke a tie and put the Golden Eagles for good. Southern Miss has now won seven straight games when facing elimination in regional play dating back to last year.
“He’s got to be the MVP,” Berry said during the school’s postgame radio show. “Dustin has played really well.”
Since USM and the Volunteers, winners of the Clemson regional, were both two-seeds in their respective regionals, both schools needed to submit a bid to host.
The NCAA announced Tuesday Hattiesburg would be the host site, making USM and Stanford the only schools to host a Super in each of the last two years.
Game one will be played Saturday, June 10 at 3 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPNU.
This season is the final year of Berry’s tenure in Hattiesburg.
This story was originally published June 5, 2023 at 4:57 PM.
