Southern Miss tracks down Coastal to capture Sun Belt regular season championship
Southern Miss will head into the postseason with a Sun Belt regular season title for the first time since joining the league.
The Golden Eagles capped their sweep of last place Georgia Southern with an 11-0 run-rule home win Saturday, completing their chase down of Coastal Carolina at the top of the standings.
Matthew Russo launched an eighth-inning walk-off three-run home run in his final career regular season at-bat inside Pete Taylor Park to seal the win.
“I’m happy that the moment got to me, and I was able to execute,” Russo said after the game. But it’s not just about me, it’s about the team. That was a big win. It means a lot. If anything, that’s just a lot of momentum going into Montgomery where we’ve had success. We know how to play there.”
The Chanticleers had a four-game lead with just nine conference games remaining, but USM finished the regular season by sweeping its last three series, while Coastal stumbled across the finish line with a 4-5 record in that same span, including Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Louisiana that finalized the Golden Eagles’ championship fate.
Southern Miss is 14-1 across its last five conference series.
“These guys have answered the call,” coach Christian Ostrander said of his team. “You’re 8-7 at the halfway point of conference play and then to go 14-1, that’s pretty impressive. That’s hard to do in this league.”
Southern Miss will be the top seed in next week’s conference tournament at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery.
Southern Miss is a regular season league champion for the first time since claiming the same title in Conference USA in its final year in its former league in 2022. The Eagles won the Sun Belt tournament in 2023 and 2024.
Saturday’s win also clinched the 10th consecutive 40-win season for the program, the longest such streak in the country.
The Golden Eagles got stellar starting pitching during the weekend with three starters combining to allow one earned run in 15 innings. The staff heads into the postseason ranked in the top-10 nationally in team ERA.
Southern Miss will open the conference tournament Wednesday when it plays against the worst seed to make it out of the single elimination first-four round on Tuesday.
