McCarty English returns to mound and helps deliver key opening-series win for USM
The screws in McCarty English’s elbow were coming loose just before the 2025 season began. He tried to pitch anyway. The result: 12 runs allowed in just six outs across five different appearances.
The injury incurred during his freshman season would claim the majority of his second year at Southern Miss.
So when the Ocean Springs native took the mound for his first career weekend start during the Golden Eagles’ opening weekend series against mid-major power UC Santa Barbara, English made the most of it.
English threw a career-high three innings in which he allowed one run early before settling in to induce four ground outs and strike out a pair of batters in what would be a 6-5 walk-off win over projected Big West champion UC Santa Barbara.
“I thought his stuff looked good,” coach Christian Ostrander said after the game. “I think everything went right. That pitch count got up in the first inning. I told him ‘you did your job and let’s build off that.’”
The plan was for English to throw around 55 pitches. He threw 52 pitches against a game-high 12 batters. While English did not earn a decision, he turned in the best outing among USM’s three weekend starters in the series rubber match.
“It’s definitely something to build off,” English said. “It’s not what I wanted, but just being able to get out there again and get outs, keep competing and build off it.”
English gave up a pair of base hits and was charged with two wild pitches in the first inning. That’s where the Gauchos manufactured the game’s first run, but English limited damage with a strikeout and groundout.
Two more runners reached in the second, but English left both stranded. He fell into a groove in the third inning, forcing three ground outs in just six pitches.
“It was really refreshing to see him out there,” Ostrander said. “It’s been a tough road back for him. No one deserves it more than him.”
It was a fractured elbow suffered against Troy in late March 2024 that put English on a long recovery path.
English had the nagging screws removed in July and went to work with Ostrander and new pitching coach Gunner Leger. He added a game-ready curveball over the offseason to compliment his mid-90s fastball and drop-away splitter.
“(English) knows he’s talented, but he wants to tap into whatever that potential is,” Leger told the Sun Herald before the season began. “Whatever that cap is, he wants to break through that.”
Ostrander hasn’t announced any changes to the rotation yet ahead of a loaded weekend at the Round Rock Classic in Texas, where the Golden Eagles will face Purdue, Oregon State and Baylor.
Southern Miss lost Friday’s opener, 5-1, before bouncing back Saturday with a come-from-behind 8-6 win.
Matthew Russo drew a four-pitch bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth Sunday to seal the series win.
“This is going to be a series that we look back on whenever conference play gets here and we’re going to be, like, ‘that’s a really big win that’s going to give us the chance to host,’” English said. “That’s really big to build off of. We’re going to Texas soon, take our momentum over there and keep it rolling.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2026 at 7:43 PM.
