Excited and thankful, former Vancleave standout honored by Southern Miss teammates
Carson Paetow has been on both ends of baseball’s fickle spectrum.
He sparked a 15-game win streak that catapulted Southern Miss into the postseason as a redshirt freshman in 2022 with his insertion at the top of the order.
He then struggled mightily for the first two months of 2023 before turning around and batting .354 during April and playing a key role in USM’s Sun Belt title-winning run.
Paetow’s sparkplug ability and focused mentality paid off this offseason when his teammates voted the Vancleave product one of three captains leading the Golden Eagles under first-year head coach Christian Ostrander.
“It’s definitely a great honor,” Paetow told the Sun Herald. “I humbly say that I’m excited to be a captain and I’m very thankful for my teammates to look at me that way.”
The fourth-year junior is taking on a mentorship role for a program that has 21 new players.
Paetow, along with co-captains Slade Wilks and Matt Adams, is charged with upholding the standard at a program with seven consecutive trips to regionals, multiple seasons inside the top 25 and back-to-back years hosting a super regional.
Though the captaincy is a player vote, Paetow also has the trust from his new head coach to lead by example.
“Carson is an unbelievable young man,” Ostrander said. “He’s humble, he’s likable, he cares about his teammates, he makes good decisions. Off the field, he’s just infectious. There’s something about him, the way he plays. He has fun. I think you can see that. He’s always smiling. He walks the walk and he doesn’t just talk it. What he says, he does, and he leads these guys.”
The aforementioned levelheadedness is a key reason why so many in the dugout look toward Paetow. When the right fielder struggled during parts of last season, he made a mentality change.
Paetow admits that he had issues with his swing and even told a coach late in the year that it “felt horrible.”
“Back-end of the year, I was able to pick up my numbers because I had that mentality to not worry so much about my swing,” Paetow said. Instead, he let the competitor come out and take over.
That’s where Paetow’s focus has been during the offseason: maintaining a competitive mentality, working on his swing and becoming a mentor for the younger players.
Next up soon
Paetow is joined on the roster by three new faces from the Mississippi Coast. St. Martin grad, and right-handed pitcher, Landen Payne arrives via Pearl River Community College, and two true freshmen right-handers in Pass Christian’s Peyton Lacy and Ocean Springs’ McCarty English.
Payne was brought up during media day by Ostrander and several hitters as an arm who will be relied upon significantly at the end of the bullpen and is set to serve a key role within the Golden Eagles staff.
“Landen Payne, I think we’re going to see him a lot,” Wilks said. “He throws a cutter that I feel like I hit really good and I either foul it off my foot or I hit it straight into the ground.”
After Payne, Lacy and English were both pointed to by Wilks as guys who he expects to throw innings this year. “As true freshmen, they’re definitely going to pitch,” Wilks said. “Anytime you get playing time as a true freshman, that’s something you should be proud of. I can definitely see both of them having significant roles.”
Lacy arrived as a two-way player — missing his cousin Gabe Lacy’s lone year as an Eagle by one season — but quickly transitioned to the mound full-time with a fastball that goes 93 to 94 miles per hour.
The former Pirate is bringing his slider with him from high school, but is also developing a changeup as a third offering.
Through fall practice and heading into winter scrimmages, Lacy is getting a first-hand look at why Ostrander is often referred to as the “Wizard of Oz” when it comes to his handling of pitchers.
“He’ll make you feel like you’re the best pitcher in the world,” Lacy said. “It’s definitely that mentality he has of making you feel like you’re the best. And obviously he knows a lot about the mechanics from the pitching side of things. But the mentality is what he preaches so much. Just know you’re the best and you will be.”
English has had a similar experience after one semester in Hattiesburg. “He’s a wizard,” according to the Greyhound grad.
He’s benefited directly from Ostrander already, pointing to his vastly improved changeup that he hopes to utilize this season. English has also added a cutter to the vault to give the vertical plane his changeup takes advantage of a complimentary horizontal action pitch.
According to Paetow, both English and Lacy are fitting in well at USM.
“Lot of talent, most importantly they’re good guys,” Paetow said. “I like McCarty a lot, he’s got a lot of upside. Peyton Lacy also has a lot of upside. ... They can play, I think they’re going to get some good innings this year.”
The talents of the newcomers and Paetow’s leadership will be put on display in February when USM opens the season with five games over the first six days of the season.
Despite the new numbers and the blind eye national outlets have turned toward USM as preseason polls roll out, the Golden Eagles still have the same identity they’ve always carried.
“Our label is tough, blue-collar team,” Paetow said. “We don’t have the big, huge prospects some of these schools have. We always find a way and work and put our nose down and just grind. That’s what we do and we enjoy it. We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Southern Miss opens the season with a three-game home series against Marist, beginning at 4 p.m. on Feb. 16.
