Southern Miss wins in Biloxi, hints at notable changes coming to rotation
The Golden Eagles had plenty of bad taste to rinse away with their third trip to Biloxi in as many years.
No. 12 Southern Miss (17-4) shook off Nicholls (11-12), 4-0, Tuesday at Keesler Federal Park and bucked a few negative trends in the process.
It was coming off its first conference series loss since Marshall in early April 2025, and facing a team it had lost three of the last four meetings against in a park it had not won a regular season game in since 2017.
“Hits were at a premium, but I thought our guys played clean defense and threw the ball well,” coach Christian Ostrander said after the game. “Proud of the win and getting back in that win column tonight.”
Ostrander also used the outing to make notable changes to both the lineup and the pitching staff, with the insertion of true freshman Gray Eubanks in the order and the appearance of Friday starter Colby Allen in relief.
The Eagles manufactured their runs in the middle innings through opportunistic means, and got shutout pitching from eight different arms.
Matthew Russo scored first in the fourth inning after reaching second on a two-bag error, advanced to third on a fly out and made it home on Ben Higdon’s shallow fly to left field.
Kyle Morrison had the game’s only base hit RBI in the fifth, sending home Eubanks with a double. Two more runs came across in the sixth inning, one by Drey Barrett via throwing error and the other by Tucker Stockman by way of Eubanks’ sac fly.
It was Eubanks’ first start of the season. The Tennessee native was responsible for half of USM’s runs and reached twice with a pair of walks as the designated hitter.
Eubanks found himself in the order due to an inconsistent lineup and coach Christian Ostrander’s willingness to tinker with the card.
“(Eubanks) is a good hitter,” Ostrander said. “He’s young, he’s going to learn as he goes. He’s got good plate discipline, he’s got juice in there, he’s got a good hit tool. He deserves the opportunity. We’re trying to find somebody that grabs that spot for us.”
“I don’t think we’ve hit our stride, yet,” Ostrander continued about the season’s spotty run production. “I think we’ve had moments this year where we’ve put it together, but I just don’t think we’re hitting on all cylinders yet.”
Dylan Causey made the start on the mound, but it was Colby Allen making a surprise relief appearance in the seventh inning that served as the harbinger of a significant shift coming in the rotation.
Allen has been the Friday starter, but has scuffled through five games. The former closer most recently allowed three runs in last week’s series-opening loss to Arkansas State where he walked three and gave up six hits in five innings.
“Moving to a starter role after he was an All-American as a back-end guy, he’s done a great job for us but we felt like it might be time for him to look back at getting back into that role that he’s been so accustomed to. He understood that totally and he was up for it and was excited about it.”
Ostrander didn’t say who would be replacing Allen on Friday or who the new third weekend starter would be. Saturday starter Grayden Harris has a 2.33 ERA while striking out 11.3 batters per innings against just 2.0 walks per nine.
Camden Sunstrom earned the win with a heavier-than-typical workload for a Golden Eagle pitcher in a midweek game. He inherited two runners in the second inning and left both stranded.
He went on to face the minimum through 2.2 innings, striking out three of the eight batters.
Former Golden Eagle and Pass Christian standout Peyton Lacy threw the Colonels’ final 1.2 innings, allowing one base runner across six batters faced.
Southern Miss will play its first home conference series this weekend against Troy.
This story was originally published March 17, 2026 at 8:52 PM.
