Southern Miss Coach Reveals Message to Team Following Series Loss to Arkansas State

Golden Eagles head coach Christian Ostrander was "disappointed" in his team's effort over the weekend in Jonesboro, and is looking for a bounce-back performance on Tuesday night in Biloxi.

Southern Miss Golden Eagles head coach Christian Ostrander watches the action against the Ole Miss Rebels at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Mar. 10, 2026. / Matt Bush/Special to the Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Although No. 12 Southern Miss has had an overall stellar start to the season with a 16-4 record through 20 games, the Golden Eagles have a sour taste left in their mouths following a Sun Belt Conference opening series loss to Arkansas State in Jonesboro, Ark., this past weekend.

After losing the opening game of the series on Friday, the Golden Eagles bounced back with a big win on Saturday to tie things up at 1-1. However, Southern Miss couldn't overcome early errors in Sunday's rubber match, which resulted in a 5-2 loss. Until this past weekend, A-State had never beaten Southern Miss in Baseball. The series loss dropped the Golden Eagles from No. 7 to No. 12 in the latest D1Baseball rankings.

Coach Oz Disappointed in Self-Inflicted Mistakes

Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com

In an interview on SuperTalk Eagle Hour, Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander was blunt about how disappointed he was with his team's effort, especially in the rubber match of the series, where the Golden Eagles essentially beat themselves.

"Yeah, just disappointed," Coach Oz said. "Disappointed, because that's not the standard here. It's ok to lose. I can handle getting beat. I mean, we got beat Friday. They just beat us. But I thought [Sunday], we gave 'em a lot, and we had our chances, and that bothered me."

Learning How to 'Rise Up'

Josh House

The Golden Eagles did indeed give the Red Wolves a lot to start Sunday's game, as two errors and a wild pitch in the first inning led to A-State scoring three runs and taking the early 3-0 lead that held throughout. Despite some of the great wins this team already has on its resume, Coach Oz believes his guys still have to learn how to "rise up" in some of these games that aren't against big-name opponents.

"This team's gotta learn how to rise up in those situations," Coach Oz said. "Every team has to learn it, and I don't know if we have yet. There's been a lot of great moments already this year, but some of those moments come when ... there's so much energy around them because of who you're playing, where you're playing, the environment ... Sometimes, you've gotta create your own, and quite frankly, I think against Nicholls a couple weeks ago and two games this past weekend, we didn't command that enough. We gotta supply it."

You can listen to the entire SuperTalk Eagle Hour segment with Coach Oz below, where he discusses the overall performance of his pitching staff, the team's recent offensive struggles, and more.

SuperTalk Eagle Hour 3/16/2026 https://t.co/Tu1MkziXXC via @supertalk

— SuperTalk Eagle Hour (@USMEagleHour) March 16, 2026

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more baseball coverage following the Golden Eagles' rematch with Nicholls in Biloxi on Tuesday night.