Southern Miss blows 9th-inning lead, drops Hattiesburg Regional opener
New year, same result.
Southern Miss opened the Hattiesburg Regional with a loss to the four-seed for the second straight year after a four-run ninth inning by Little Rock resulted in a stunning 7-4 loss for the Golden Eagles.
The hosts held a 4-3 lead when the Trojans strung together four hits against right-hander Colby Allen, including a double and a home run, to steal the afternoon and hand USM its first loss in 33 games this season when leading after eight innings.
It’s the fourth straight season the Eagles have lost their regional opener.
“The game was right there and (Little Rock) made a strike in the ninth inning against our guy,” USM coach Christian Ostrander said after the game. “We just weren’t able to really separate enough throughout that game. It was a close game.”
Each of the Golden Eagles’ runs were produced by the long ball. Kyle Morrison provided a solo home run in the third inning and Joey Urban launched a 451-foot, two-run blast in the fifth.
Davis Gillespie hit what appeared to be the go-ahead solo homer in the eighth frame.
Around the home runs, though, the lineup struggled to string together baserunners. Southern Miss had four lead-off hits, but was 1-13 with runners on base and 0-6 with runners in scoring position. Around the home runs, USM had just six hits in 32 at-bats.
Camden Clark started the game and allowed only two runs in 5.1 innings. Allen took over in a stopper role and was tagged with five earned runs allowed in 3.2 innings.
Southern Miss is expected to start ace Grayden Harris on Saturday, and has most of its bullpen available.
“I firmly believe, no disrespect to the other two teams, I firmly believe we’ll see Southern Miss again,” Little Rock coach Chris Curry said. “Because they have the kind of pitching to win a tournament.”
The Trojans are in their second consecutive NCAA Tournament and third in program history. Little Rock took LSU to the final game in last year’s Baton Rouge Regional.
Southern Miss falls into the losers bracket in the regional and will face the loser of Friday’s game between Virginia and Jacksonville State. That game will be played Saturday at 3 p.m.
This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 3:05 PM.
