Southern Miss denied history in Sun Belt title game, still lands tournament host gig
The counters have been set back to zero.
Coastal Carolina put a stop to Southern Miss’ 18-game win streak in the Sun Belt Conference championship game, outlasting the Golden Eagles, 7-5, and halting the USM bid for three consecutive league tournament titles.
The Chanticleers poured in five runs in the fifth inning to break open a game that had swung from one side of the scoreboard to the other.
“It was a battle,” second-year coach Christian Ostrander said. “I’m extremely proud of our guys. They fought. Disappointed in the loss, these guys are disappointed, but you got to handle adversity sometimes. The good thing is the season’s not over. We get to play baseball next weekend.”
The result was a changing of the guard not just for the league’s automatic qualifier, but it also served as Coastal’s 18th consecutive win, making it the new Division I leader in active winning streak and putting it in a tie with USM and the 1985 Old Dominion Monarchs for longest in conference history.
It left the 12th-ranked Golden Eagles on the bubble of a national seed with just hours remaining before the NCAA decided its hosting fate, ultimately choosing Hattiesburg as one of its 16 host sites.
“I think the body of work these young men have put together speaks for itself,” Ostrander said. “We scheduled as hard as we could. We had an unbelievable streak, that’s hard to do at any level. I know this, there’s nothing more these guys could have done to give ourselves a chance to (host).”
The doubt would have been a moot point without Coastal’s crooked number in the middle of the game. Southern Miss outscored the Chants in the other eight innings, 5-2. But Landon Payne’s inning on the mound went sour when he committed a three-base error on a bunt, leading to a score on that play and the next.
Payne failed to throw out another bunting batter and hit the next to load the bases. Two more base hits turned a frame that had begun as a one-run USM lead to a four-run Coastal advantage.
Southern Miss displayed the power within its lineup with home runs from Joey Urban, Ben Higdon and SBC Player of the Year Nick Monistere and set the school’s single season home run record in the process.
But rallies were cut short too often. Carson Paetow, who slogged through the tournament with two hits in 17 at bats, struck out with the bases loaded twice.
The Eagles put two runners on base in the ninth inning, but a driving ball in the right center gap from Ozzie Pratt was tracked down by Coastal’s Blagen Pado.
Both sides relied heavily on their bullpens, to mixed results. Chandler Best, Josh Och and Colby Allen combined for 0 earned runs in 4.1 innings, but starter Camden Sunstrom gave up a run in each of the first two innings.
Southern Miss was able to tag Coastal starter Luke Jones with two runs, but Dominick Carbone and Ryan Lynch covered the final 1.2 innings with only two baserunners allowed.
Though disappointed, the Eagles are looking forward to whatever challenge next weekend brings.
“I think we’re going to take these feelings, the emotions, everything we feel right now and use that as motivation this weekend whether we’re in Hattiesburg or wherever we are,” Monistere said.
The full Hattiesburg bracket will be revealed on Monday.
This story was originally published May 25, 2025 at 4:57 PM.
