Sweep Sunday: No. 12 Southern Miss Caps ULM Series with Offensive Surge

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After winning a doubleheader and securing the Sun Belt series win against ULM on Saturday with a combined five runs scored, No. 12 Southern Miss outperformed that run total in Sunday's series finale with a 7-3 win. The Golden Eagles' bats got hot, scoring four runs in the third inning, and three more in the sixth, and they never looked back.

With the win, which secured a series sweep, Southern Miss improved to 34-14 overall and 16-8 in Sun Belt play. The Warhawks dropped to 24-24 overall and 10-14 in Sun Belt play. It was the first time they had been swept this season.

Sunstrom Perserveres, Eags' Pitching Dominates Overall

After having his pitch count get above 40 through two innings, sophomore RHP Camden Sunstrom (W, 4-3) locked in and made it through six full innings to collect the win. He threw a career-high 106 pitches on the day and finished with five strikeouts while giving up just four hits and one run during those six innings.

Overall, the Golden Eagles' pitching staff registered 44 strikeouts on the weekend and looks poised for a big finish here at the end of the regular season. The Golden Eagles are now all alone in second place in the Sun Belt standings following Sunday's win and App State's loss to Troy, and they're also six wins away from extending their nation-leading streak of 40-win seasons to 10 seasons.

With how the starting pitchers are performing, there's a good chance Southern Miss can reach that mark before postseason play arrives. More importantly, though, the Golden Eagles' figuring out their starting rotation, which appears to be elite, raises the ceiling for how far this team can go.

Bats Come Alive in Third and Sixth Innings

The Golden Eagles' bats got hot in the bottom of the third, as Davis Gillespie, Matthew Russo, Ben Higdon and Tucker Stockman all hit singles with two outs to help Southern Miss obtain a 4-0 lead.

Then, in the bottom of the sixth, the Golden Eagles scored three more runs thanks to four more singles from Seth Smith, Russo, Drey Barrett and Higdon. Once again, all of Southern Miss' runs came with two outs. Russo and Gillespie led the Golden Eagles with three hits apiece, and Higdon finished with two of his own with a team-best three RBI.

Overall, it wasn't the prettiest offensive series for Southern Miss, but good baseball teams find different ways to manufacture runs and win games, and that's what this ballclub did this weekend. Since there are no midweek games for the remainder of the season, expect to see a more rested offensive lineup over these last two weekends before Sun Belt tournament play.

Ty Long Excellent at Third Base All Weekend

When you secure a series sweep, that means there were a lot of things that went right, but one major bright spot from this weekend was the play of sophomore Ty Long. Long filled in at third base for Barrett, who tweaked his hamstring last weekend in Mobile. Barrett was healthy enough to be the Golden Eagles' designated hitter this weekend, but the team was cautious with him when it came to fielding.

Although Long only had one hit this weekend, his play at third base was so eye-opening that it makes you wonder if head coach Christian Ostrander might leave him out there for another weekend or two. If Long can get his bat going, like he did last Tuesday when he went 2-for-4 at the plate against Tulane, having both him and Barrett in the lineup alternating between third base and DH could be a good, extra weapon for this team to have going forward.

After starting the season at shortstop and then falling out of the lineup for a while, it would be a nice little end-of-the-season feel-good story for Long to reestablish himself and heat up before the postseason begins.

Next Up: James Madison

The Golden Eagles will now take this upcoming week to rest and practice before heading to Harrisonburg, VA, to take on James Madison next weekend. The Dukes are 13th out of 14 Sun Belt teams with a 20-26 overall record and 10-14 conference record, but that doesn't mean the Golden Eagles can let their guard down. Only one game separates the No. 7 through No. 13 spots in the Sun Belt standings, so JMU will have a lot to play for at home.

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more baseball coverage throughout the week, starting on Monday morning when the latest national rankings are released.

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