2025 Hattiesburg Regional Team Preview: No. 1 Seed Southern Miss

The Golden Eagles are no strangers to home postseason games, or to Alabama.

Nick Monistere (8). / University of Southern Mississippi Athletics/SouthernMissBSB on X

The geographic component of college baseball regionals leaves the door open for familiar matchups, even against non-league opponents. That is the case for Alabama and No. 16 national seed Southern Miss, the host of the 2025 Hattiesburg Regional.

Alabama (41-16), the No. 2 seed at Pete Taylor Park this weekend, defeated Southern Miss 10-6 on April 8 in a ranked matchup. The Crimson Tide is, however, 0-1 in Hattiesburg since Rob Vaughn took over as head coach.

This season's Southern Miss team (44-14) is among the hottest in the country at present. Prior to a May 25 loss to fellow regional host Coastal Carolina, the Golden Eagles had won 18 consecutive games and were the only club to beat Troy in a series in 2025.

The program is not just a postseason regular. Christian Ostrander's team is used to hosting NCAA Tournament games. Ostrander took over for Scott Berry after the 2023 season, during which Hattiesburg hosted a super regional.

Southern Miss' star attraction on the mound is one of the best arms in the country. Junior right-hander JB Middleton is a Golden Spikes semifinalist (as is Alabama's Justin Lebron) with 10 wins and a 2.01 earned run average through 15 starts. Middleton has tossed 98.1 innings.

It is not, however, solely the Middleton show for the Golden Eagles. Matt Adams is 6-2 with a 3.93 ERA. Adams pitched 4.1 innings in Tuscaloosa in April, allowing two runs. Reliever Colby Allen didn't have a good game that night but dealt against the Crimson Tide at home in March 2024.

The offense is led by Sun Belt Player of the Year Nick Monistere, the Golden Eagle second baseman whose 19 home runs are more than any Alabama player has this season. He would not lead the Crimson Tide in RBIs, but with 68, he'd be close behind Lebron, who has 72.

Power and production are prevalent elsewhere in the Southern Miss lineup. Matthew Russo (17) and Carson Paetow (15) have launched double-digit big flies. Russo's 54 runs batted in are closest to Monistere's mark. Veteran shortstop Ozzie Pratt has 52. Center fielder Jake Cook leads with a .350 batting average in 55 contests.

The Golden Eagles face No. 4 seed Columbia on Friday night at 6 p.m. CT (ESPN+), after the conclusion of the Alabama-Miami game. The winners and losers of those two tilts play against each other. There has been discourse over whether Middleton will start against the Lions or be held out for game two.

This is a seasoned group with postseason experience to the nines. Southern Miss has been to one College World Series, in 2009, and came very close two seasons ago. If the home team emerges from the Hattiesburg Regional still alive in the postseason, it would be Ostrander's first supers berth as the head coach.

NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket. / NCAA Baseball

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