Golden Eagles Can't Overcome Mid-Game Meltdown as Ragin' Cajuns Tie Series

After winning handily in the series opener on Friday night in Lafayette, No. 10 Southern Miss came into Saturday's game at Russo Park looking to wrap things up early against the Ragin' Cajuns. Louisiana had other plans, though, as it flipped the script on the Golden Eagles and won with relative ease, 8-4, setting up a massive Sun Belt rubber match on Sunday.

With the loss, the Golden Eagles fell to 25-10 (8-6), while the Ragin' Cajuns improved to 20-15 (5-9). This will be the fifth consecutive weekend that Southern Miss will play in a rubber match.

Eags' Struggles vs. Lefties Continue

As good as the Golden Eagles have been overall this season, especially in the first part of the season, their ineffectiveness against crafty left-handed pitchers is something to be concerned about as the postseason gets closer.

Ragin' Cajuns LHP Andrew Herrmann (4-2) registered a complete game on Saturday, striking out nine batters and giving up just five hits and four runs with 108 pitches thrown through nine innings. Herrmann gave up a two-run homer to Southern Miss junior outfielder Davis Gillespie in the top of the second inning, and another two-run homer to senior second baseman Kyle Morrison in the top of the ninth inning, but that wasn't enough to derail his complete game.

Overall, the Golden Eagles went 5-for-31 at the plate on Saturday, which is a .161 batting average. Head coach Christian Ostrander and his guys know that kind of offense isn't going to cut it if the team is going to have a chance to reach its biggest goals this season, but it will be on the players to get in the lab and become more comfortable facing those pesky left-handed pitchers going forward.

Mid-Game Disaster Strikes Again

Aside from hitting struggles against lefties, the Golden Eagles have also had a recent trend of pitching woes in the mid-to-late stages of some of these weekend games. Last weekend against Old Dominion, Southern Miss gave up six-run innings in both the Saturday and Sunday games. Luckily, though, the Golden Eagles were able to salvage that Sunday game by coming back to win 8-7 after blowing a 6-1 lead.

On Saturday in Lafayette, after Southern Miss took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, Louisiana stormed back to score four runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth. Altogether, the Ragin Cajuns put up all of their eight runs in the fifth through seventh innings.

Sophomore RHP Camden Sunstrom was cruising along for the Golden Eagles through four innings until running into trouble in the fifth. After getting a lead-off walk, Louisiana got a single to put men on first and second with no outs. As the next batter laid down a sacrifice bunt attempt, Sunstrom tried to get the out at third instead of first, but his throw to Drey Barrett was off-line, and all runners were safe. With the bases loaded with no outs, Sunstrom walked in a run to make it 2-1, USM, and Coach Oz went to the bullpen.

Before getting out of the fifth, the Golden Eagles found themselves down 4-2, and then down 7-2 after the sixth. Sophomore RHP Camden Clark, who has been lights out as the team's closer this year, had to come on much earlier than usual in this one and ended up giving up his first earned runs of the season. Overall, Sunstrom and Clark combined for nine strikeouts while giving up eight hits and seven runs in six innings of work.

Big Stakes Rubber Match Looms

USM Louisiana Ragin Cajuns — Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Athletics

At this point, barring some unforeseen injuries or uncharacteristic play, it's unlikely that Southern Miss will be able to catch Coastal Carolina for first place in the Sun Belt standings by the time the regular season ends. However, second place, and more favorable positioning in the Sun Belt tournament are still well within reach, making Sunday's rubber match in Lafayette a must-have for the Golden Eagles.

Sun Belt standings and tournament seeding implications aside, the Golden Eagles also must continue to win these conference series to give themselves the best shot at hosting a regional this year. We'd argue that Southern Miss currently controls its own destiny in that regard, but losing a second Sun Belt series in five tries would change that.

Can Coach Ostrander's crew bounce back yet again and grind out another tough road series win while feeling the pressure that comes with having that No. 10 ranking target on their backs? We'll find out starting at 1 p.m. at Russo Park on Sunday afternoon. Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more coverage following that one.