Creel on Southern Miss Hitting Woes: 'They're Good Players, We Gotta Get Them Going'

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Coming off a humbling 12-0 loss to No. 6 Mississippi State in Starkville, No. 11 Southern Miss is trying to figure out how to get its offense rolling again before facing Appalachian State at Pete Taylor Park this weekend.

The Golden Eagles are 19-6 overall, but they're just 3-3 in Sun Belt play through two weekends, having lost to Arkansas State in the first series and then beating Troy this past weekend. So far, Southern Miss has a .267 team batting average, which ranks 11th out of 14 teams in the conference.

Assistant coach Travis Creel knows those numbers aren't going to cut it if the Golden Eagles want to reach their goals this season, and on his weekly SuperTalk Eagle Hour segment on Wednesday, he gave his thoughts on the team's hitting struggles.

Eags Need Good Players to Get Going

"I think we have some really good players that aren't playing good right now," Creel said. "We've gotta get those guys going. ... This past weekend I thought Russo made some huge strides, had some great at-bats. Obviously, we need to get him going.

"(Tucker) Stockman and (Drey) Barrett are two others. They're good players, and we need them to get hits in big moments. Again, I thought we did (last) weekend against some really good arms from Troy. And then last night, I don't know if it was just getting down so early or getting punched in the mouth, but for whatever reason, we didn't respond well."

Working Hard and Waiting for the Breakthrough

Identifying the problem is one thing, but the Golden Eagles' coaching staff now has to find a way to fix that problem. Creel and the rest of the guys are trying to push through to the other side the best way they know how: through consistent, hard work.

"You work," Creel said when asked how the Golden Eagles get out of their funk at the plate. "At the end of the day, whether we get them going or not, we work every day. Obviously, there's video, there's cage time, there's field time, a lot of psychological work as well. Because this is a very humbling game. It's really not for the mentally weak, and if you're struggling, it can eat at you.

"You gotta find a way to find confidence, and then that's our job, to put them in a position in practice to where they feel like things are turning around, get that confidence back and flushing the past week and a half for most of those guys."

Goals Still Well Within Reach Despite Struggles

Although App State doesn't have nearly the same overall talent as Mississippi State, that doesn't mean this upcoming series will be a walk in the park for the Golden Eagles. We saw firsthand last weekend how a team with a worse record can come into The Pete and threaten to pull off an upset if given enough opportunities.

Given how badly Tuesday night's game in Starkville went, Southern Miss might have to sweep this weekend against App State to avoid dropping in next week's national rankings. At the end of the day, though, it's still just March, and the Golden Eagles are 19-6 and still in great shape with everything they want to accomplish well within reach. They just have to collectively decide to go and take it.

You can listen to the entire SuperTalk Eagle Hour segment with Creel below. Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more baseball coverage throughout the rest of the week.