Hitting Woes Continue as No. 12 Southern Miss Loses Series Opener vs. Troy

For the second consecutive weekend, the Golden Eagles dropped the first game of their Sun Belt Conference series.

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After exorcising some demons in a 4-0 win against Nicholls on Tuesday, No. 12 Southern Miss (17-5) hoped to keep that momentum going into this weekend's home Sun Belt series against Troy (10-11). Despite battling back to make it a one-run game going to the bottom of the ninth, the Golden Eagles ultimately fell to the Trojans at Pete Taylor Park on Friday night, 6-5.

"Tough loss," head coach Christian Ostrander said in his postgame media availability. "Tip your hat to Troy. They played really well. They pitched really well. They were really scrappy at the plate, capitalized on some mistakes, and played great defense. Kinda out-played us tonight. Went ahead and got the lead, (then) relinquished that. Found a way to fight back and keep it close. Little too late."

Morrison Gets Off to Sizzling Start

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Although the Golden Eagles' overall hitting wasn't where they wanted it to be on Friday, senior second baseman Kyle Morrison had himself a night at the plate. In his first at-bat of the game in the bottom of the first inning, Morrison sent a solo home run to deep center field to give Southern Miss a 1-0 lead. Then, in the bottom of the third, with the Golden Eagles trailing 3-2, Morrison tied the game by hitting a second solo shot over the center field wall.

Coming out of Wetumpka High School in 2022, Morrison was actually recruited by Troy, but the Trojans didn't believe in his potential as a hitter. Morrison certainly would've loved for his two-homer performance to come in a win, but it still had to feel good to have that kind of game against this team.

Colby Allen Looking Sharp Out of the Pen

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Earlier this week, Coach Oz made it official by announcing that senior RHP Colby Allen would be moving back to his familiar role in the bullpen after starting this season as the team's Friday night starter.

Sophomore LHP Grayden Harris, who had been fantastic all year heading into this weekend, suffered his first loss of the season against Troy in his first Friday night start, finishing with six strikeouts and five runs given up on 10 hits in a little more than five innings.

Allen came out of the pen in the sixth and looked as comfortable as he has all year, recording four strikeouts and giving up just one run in nearly three innings of work.

Although it was an uncharacteristic outing for Harris, you could still see glimpses of how lethal a Friday-night combo of Harris starting and Allen finishing could be for the rest of the season.

Hitting Struggles Continue

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The Golden Eagles were able to make some noise in the bottom of the eighth inning, cutting a three-run deficit to one after a ground-rule double from sophomore third baseman Drey Barrett that scored Morrison and senior first baseman Matthew Russo. As Coach Oz said, though, it was a case of too little, too late for Southern Miss.

The Golden Eagles came into the weekend ranked 10th in the Sun Belt in batting average, and on Friday, they batted .219 as a team after going 7-of-32 at the plate. If you take out Morrison's 2-of-3 night at the plate, the rest of the team posted a .172 batting average. Earlier in the week, Southern Miss assistant coach Travis Creel said the team has been "snakebit" on offense lately, and so far, that trend has continued.

Over the years, Southern Miss has been able to overcome these kinds of midseason slumps to get hot at the right time. That could certainly happen again this year, but it will need to happen soon, because losing two consecutive Sun Belt series to start conference play would be a tough pill to swallow, even for a team that already has a handful of high-profile wins in a 17-5 start.

The Golden Eagles will be back in action against Troy at The Pete at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The game will be available on ESPN+. Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more coverage following each game.