Unbeaten Southern Miss knocks off Mississippi State at home for first time in 7 years
Joey Urban launched a 379-foot home run off the scoreboard and Colby Allen worked four shutout innings to give Southern Miss (5-0) a 3-0 home win over Mississippi State (3-1), its first since sweeping the Bulldogs in their last trip to Pete Taylor Park in 2018.
The No. 18-ranked Bulldogs failed to dent the hit column until the sixth inning, while the Golden Eagles took advantage of four MSU errors.
Southern Miss designated hitter Ben Higdon led off the bottom of the first with a walk and later scored on a passed ball. The lead was extended the next inning by Urban’s solo home run and Higdon scoring on an error after reaching base on an error.
“I’m proud of the guys, I thought they fought really hard against a really good team and really tough pitching staff,” USM coach Christian Ostrander said after the game.
St. Martin product Landen Payne closed the door by striking out the side in the ninth for his first save of the year.
It was USM’s first win over its in-state SEC counterpart since 2022 after losing by one run in each of the last two meetings.
Allen’s first start of the year saw him face 13 batters and sit down 11 of them via strikeout or groundout. Allen walked one batter, another reached on error and none picked up a hit off the junior right-hander.
“Coach (Ostrander) told me to set the tone and get us out of the gate and I took that a little personal.” Allen said. “I just went out there and filled it up.”
It makes two strong starts in a row for Allen, who allowed just one run across seven innings against Indiana in the Knoxville regional last summer.
Allen is a Louisville, Mississippi, native who played catcher at Starkville Academy. Allen was junior college-bound before attending a camp at USM and being offered a spot on the roster as a pitcher. Having the opportunity to face his hometown team was one he didn’t take likely and he shut down any chance of being lured back home.
“This place is pretty special,” Allen said. “I wouldn’t trade nothing. I’m going to be quiet, but I wouldn’t trade nothing... I love Southern Miss.”
Southern Miss is 5-0 for the first time since 2016 after recording its fourth shutout win over the Bulldogs since 2015. The Golden Eagles host Louisiana Tech this weekend before traveling to Oxford to face Ole Miss on Feb. 25.
Southern Miss will make the return trip to Starkville on March 4.
