'Big Boy Baseball': No. 12 Southern Miss Bringing Momentum to Road Series at JMU

Following a clean sweep of UL Monroe, No. 12 Southern Miss is looking for similar success this weekend as it prepares for its final road series of the regular season at James Madison. The Golden Eagles are currently in sole possession of second place in the Sun Belt standings and in a prime position to host a regional if they can take care of business during these next two series.

The Golden Eagles will get things started in the first game of the series at 5 p.m. on Friday at Veterans Memorial Park in Harrisonburg, Va. Saturday's game will start at 3 p.m., and Sunday's series finale is slated for 11 a.m. All games this weekend will be available to stream on ESPN+. Here are some other things to know about this weekend's series.

Eags Ready for 'Big Boy Baseball'

Although the Golden Eagles have one of the best records in the nation, the season has been up and down in terms of overall consistency. When the pitching was lights out at the beginning of the year, the offense seemed to struggle to find its groove. When the offense started to find some momentum, the pitching had some hiccups. During his weekly SuperTalk Eagle Hour segment, Southern Miss assistant coach Travis Creel said he believes everything is about to come together and click at the right time.

"All year long, it's just kinda been like one or two guys not going at the same time, right? You know, Bull's (struggles were) early, and then Higdon kinda in the middle, and then Urban for a couple of weekends," Creel said.

"I really do feel like we're in a good spot right now. I feel like with our older guys... (and all of) our good players... this is the time. This is big boy baseball. This is where the men kinda separate from the boys. We need 'em all going at once, and I think they're ready to do that."

You can listen to Creel's entire segment below, where he also gives big praise to Ty Long for how well he performed at third base last weekend.

Weekend Pitching Matchup

Heading into these final two weekends of the regular season, Southern Miss still has the best pitching staff in the Sun Belt with an impressive team ERA of 3.72. JMU, on the other hand, is second-to-last in the Sun Belt with a team ERA of 6.93. With that being said, we saw last weekend how college baseball doesn't always care about stats, as the Golden Eagles struggled to score runs in the first two games against a ULM team with a 6.12 team ERA.

As is usually the case, Southern Miss will have the upper hand this weekend when it comes to pitching. The Golden Eagles are hoping their bats can give their pitchers a little more cushion this weekend. Here's a look at his weekend's starters for both teams.

Friday: USM will start sophomore LHP Grayden Harris (7-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. JMU senior RHP Patrick Bauer (1-3, 5.52 ERA).

Saturday: USM will start sophomore RHP Camden Clark (6-0, 2.83 ERA) vs. JMU redshirt-sophomore RHP Holden McKinney (2-3, 6.27 ERA).

Sunday: USM will start sophomore RHP Camden Sunstrom (4-3, 2.32 ERA) vs. JMU freshman LHP Tyler Lutz (3-4, 4.92 ERA).

Bounce-Back Weekend for Joey Urban?

USM Joey Urban — Joe Harper / bngphoto.com

After batting well above .300 for the majority of this season, senior outfielder Joey Urban saw that average drop to .296 after last weekend. Although the Golden Eagles were able to come away with the sweep of ULM, Urban uncharacteristically went just 1-of-12 at the plate over those three games.

With that being said, though, we know that Urban is simply too talented a player for that trend to continue, and it wouldn't shock us to see him get back on track in Harrisonburg this weekend. Urban has 11 home runs and 36 RBI this season, which rank third and fourth on the team, respectively.

If Urban can get his bat hot again with how this Golden Eagles' pitching staff has been performing, Southern Miss will be capable of beating any opponent it faces come postseason time.

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more USM baseball coverage throughout this weekend.

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