Golden Dynasty: No. 8 Southern Miss Wins 3rd Sun Belt Championship in 4 Years

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Southern Miss Golden Eagles have been in the Sun Belt Conference for four years, and they now have three conference tournament championships to show for it. That is what some might call a "Golden Dynasty."

The rallying cry is "Southern Miss To The Top," and Southern Miss has officially made it to the very top of the Sun Belt.

On Sunday at DABOS Park in Montgomery, the Golden Eagles needed two big wins to call themselves champions again, and they did just that by defeating the Troy Trojans, 6-2, in the semifinal elimination game this morning and then putting up many runs early and often in an 11-7 championship game win over the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in the afternoon. Here's how it happened.

Eags' Bats Jump on the Cajuns Early

To start the day, we wrote about how important it would be for Southern Miss to get off to a hot start on offense and avoid playing from behind. Head coach Christian Ostrander obviously got that message across to his guys, as Seth Smith blasted a ball 425 feet to right center on his first swing for a solo homer to give the Golden Eagles a 1-0 in the bottom of the first.

Then, three batters later, Matthew Russo sent a two-run homer 422 feet to deep center field to make it 3-0, Golden Eagles. By the time the bottom of the fifth inning came around, Southern Miss had a commanding 11-1 lead. The Cajuns made the Golden Eagles sweat a little bit in the top of the ninth inning by plating five runs with only one out, but freshman RHP Teague Broadhead took the mound for USM and closed things out.

Overall, eight of the nine USM batters had a hit on the day, and Seth Smith (3), Joey Urban (2), Davis Gillespie (2), Matthew Russo (2), and Ty Long (3) all had at least two hits in the championship game. We also have to mention Ben Higdon's big two-RBI double in the bottom of the fourth inning to give the Golden Eagles a 10-1 lead at the time. The Golden Eagles truly saved their best performance for last in this tournament.

Harris Shows Out for Three Innings, English and Armistead Have Moments

Although the final six innings were a pitcher-by-committee situation for Southern Miss, sophomore left-handed ace Grayden Harris got the start and registered four strikeouts in three innings of work while only giving up one run on one hit–a solo homer to Cajuns' Donovan LaSalle. Aside from that one pitch, Harris was pretty much flawless in his time on the mound.

With regionals starting next weekend, the Golden Eagles wanted to be cautious with their use of Harris on Sunday. Harris only threw 42 pitches before the Golden Eagles went to the bullpen.

A couple of other pitching notes: McCarty English and JW Armistead both got the Golden Eagles out of bases-loaded jams during Sunday's championship. Given the final push the Cajuns put together in the ninth, those moments by English and Armistead ended up looking even bigger than they did at the time they happened.

Sun Belt Tournament Awards

Four Golden Eagles were recognized for their individual performances during Sunday's Sun Belt Championship postgame. Colby Allen, Drey Barrett and Matthew "Bull" Russo were selected to the All-Sun Belt Tournament Team. Joey Urban was selected as the tournament's Most Outstanding Performer.

Urban and Allen showed out in the first game of the day against Troy. Urban launched a three-run homer in the bottom of the third to give the Golden Eagles a 4-0 lead over Troy. Then Allen came in for the remaining six innings and preserved the lead, finishing with six strikeouts and two runs given up on seven hits. Allen got the win and improved to 7-1 on the year.

In the championship against Louisiana, Russo made his mark by hitting a two-run blast to center field to give the Golden Eagles an early 3-0 lead.

And last, but certainly not least, Barrett's biggest highlight of this tournament came on Friday night against Troy, as he smashed a walk-off grand slam to give the Golden Eagles a remarkable 7-6 win.

Next Up: The Road to Omaha

As the Golden Eagles celebrate being the champions of the Sun Belt, the bigger goal for this season awaits. Southern Miss will now wait to see whether it will host a regional and who will be in it. Although hosting a regional is pretty much a forgone conclusion, the Golden Eagles now have a chance at securing a national seed, which would guarantee a Hattiesburg Super Regional if they can advance past the regional round.

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more USM baseball coverage as more details on regional hosting are released.

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