Hattiesburg Regional Recap: USM Drops Opener vs. Little Rock in Heartbreaking Fashion

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Heading into Friday afternoon's Hattiesburg Regional opener, Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander was hoping his team had learned enough from last year's opening loss against Columbia to avoid the same fate this year against Little Rock.

Things were looking promising, as the Golden Eagles took a 4-3 lead into the ninth inning after junior left fielder Davis Gillespie's go-ahead solo homer. However, Southern Miss collapsed in the top of the ninth, giving up four runs to Little Rock and losing the game, 7-4.

Coach Oz Speaks on 'Disappointing' Opener

"First, just wanna congratulate Little Rock, Coach Curry and his bunch. They played a really good game. They earned that. They competed their tails off," Coach Oz said after the game.

"Disappointed in the loss, obviously. That's not what we envisioned. That's not what we set out to do. You play to win every time you get a chance, and the game was right there. But they made a strike in that ninth inning against our guy (Colby Allen). We weren't really able to separate enough throughout that game, and it was a close game, and there you go. ... We gotta move on."

"Very frustrating," Coach Oz said of his team dropping a regional opener for the fourth consecutive year. "You know, you want to win. That's what we set to do. Baseball's hard. It's a hard game. You gotta get 27 outs. I'm not discouraged with the way the guys competed. I'm not discouraged with their want and desire. We just didn't do enough.

"And again, you gotta credit the other team sometimes. I thought. I thought they competed really hard, and they put together some good at-bats and were able to manufacture and get some big blows. ... You lose Game 1 of a regional? Ok, then we need to win Game 2 and just go one game at a time, really like we've done all year."

Pitching Comparison

Overall, the Southern Miss pitchers had some good moments throughout the game, but they didn't necessarily have their best stuff on Friday either. Sophomore RHP Camden Clark went 5.1 innings as the starter, registering four strikeouts during that time while giving up two runs on seven hits.

Senior RHP Colby Allen came in for Clark in the sixth inning and went the rest of the way, registering four strikeouts and giving up five runs on seven hits in a little more than three innings of work. With the Eagles having a 4-3 lead at the top of the ninth, Allen was three outs away from securing a massive win, but a Little Rock lead-off single, followed by a one-out double and a wild pitch that tied the game, put the writing on the wall for the Black and Gold.

The Eagles trailed 7-4 by the time the frame ended and couldn't recover in the bottom of the ninth. The Trojans put the finishing touches on their explosive ninth inning with a two-run bomb from Blake Simpson.

Trojans starter Brannon Westmoreland went five innings and registered five strikeouts with three runs given up on seven hits. Tag Andrews came in to close the last two innings and gave up just one run on two hits with two strikeouts.

Offense Didn't Do Quite Enough

When the Southern Miss offense gets off to a quick start, this is a tough team to beat. We saw that all last week and weekend in Montgomery during the Sun Belt Conference tournament. The Eagles had several opportunities to scratch some runs across early on in the game with lead-off doubles coming from Seth Smith and Matthew Russo in the first two innings, but they weren't able to cash in on those opportunities.

Overall, the Eagles had four runs on nine hits with nine strikeouts and six runners left of base. Smith and Gillespie were the only two USM players to finish with multiple hits on the day. Urban, Gillespie and Kyle Morrison all went yard against Little Rock, but it simply wasn't enough. Whoever Southern Miss plays in Saturday's elimination game, getting off to a better offensive start will be key.

'Season's Not Over'

As disappointing as Southern Miss' loss to Little Rock was on Friday, there's a reason these regionals are double-elimination. Will it be tougher for the Golden Eagles to pull through and win the regional after dropping the first game? Absolutely, it will be. Does this team have what it takes to run the table and make that happen? Again, absolutely.

"We talked after the game, and the message is, 'This season's not over tomorrow,'" Gillespie said. "We're gonna come out and fight tomorrow. We've just gotta put this one behind us and move on from it."

Added senior center fielder Joey Urban, who had a 451-foot two-run bomb in the fifth to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead at the time: "We're only given one more game, that we know of. So we're just gonna go out there with our hair on fire and just kinda play our game."

We will now wait to see who the Golden Eagles will play in Saturday's elimination game: Virginia or Jacksonville State. Sophomore LHP Grayden Harris will likely be on the mound for Southern Miss. Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more coverage throughout the weekend.

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