Despite 'Tough Day to Hit,' Higdon, No. 12 Southern Miss Gets Job Done in Doubleheader

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Coming into this weekend’s series against ULM, which had the second-best batting average in the Sun Belt, No. 12 Southern Miss knew it would need a big effort from its conference-leading pitching staff.

The Golden Eagles got several big pitching performances in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep, including the dynamic duo of Grayden Harris and Colby Allen combining for 16 strikeouts through 11 innings in a 2-1 walk-off win in Game 1, and Camden Clark’s career-best 15 strikeouts in a 3-1 win in Game 2.

Given that ULM ranked 11th out of 14 Sun Belt teams in ERA heading into this series, the Golden Eagles would’ve loved to put more runs on the board in those two games, but at the end of the day, it’s baseball, and a win is a win no matter how you achieve it. With wind blowing into the ballpark and runs coming at a premium, Southern Miss had to rely less on the long ball and be a little more aggressive on the bags, and senior outfielder Ben Higdon led the charge in that department in the series clincher.

With the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs, Higdon pushed the go-ahead run across home plate with an RBI double. Then, after being walked in the seventh, he stole second and third base back to back, which allowed him to score a massive insurance run to make it 3-1.

“To win a series in one day is special, and being able to do that today was awesome,” Higdon tells Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI. “Our pitching staff was absolutely lights out, and we needed it.”

It’s no secret that the Golden Eagles don’t steal a lot of bases—opposing teams’ broadcasts make sure that everyone watching or listening knows that. However, Southern Miss picked a perfect time to go against that identity on Saturday.

“It was a tough day to hit at The Pete, no doubt, and having to kind of manufacture some runs was huge for us,” Higdon said. “I think Coach Creel had a great feel and a great idea to get some much-needed runs. The most important thing is finding a way to get just enough.

“When you look at what our pitching staff was able to do (on Saturday), they kept us in those games, and good offenses do whatever it takes to win, and we were able to do that. Gonna have to go out and do it again today and get a sweep!”

Southern Miss is now 33-14 overall with a top-10 RPI and 15-8 in the Sun Belt, good for second place in the conference. App State is on the Golden Eagles’ heels in the Sun Belt standings, but Southern Miss can’t worry about that. If USM just keeps winning, the rest will take care of itself. You can catch Game 3 of Southern Miss vs. ULM at The Pete today at 3 p.m.

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