Where Golden Eagles Land in Latest College Baseball Rankings and What's Next

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After starting the season 15-2, the Southern Miss baseball team has gone 6-5 over its last 11 games, resulting in a cool-off in the national college baseball rankings in weeks five and six. The Golden Eagles soared to as high as No. 6 and No. 7 in some rankings a few weeks ago, and after briefly falling out of the Top 10 over the last few weeks, they're back in week seven.

Last week, Southern Miss started things off with a disheartening 12-0 loss to then-No. 6 Mississippi State (now No. 4) in Starkville. Despite also having some shaky moments in their weekend Sun Belt series against Appalachian State, the Golden Eagles ended the week on a high note with a 13-4 blowout win over the Mountaineers in Sunday's rubber match. For a team that had been struggling offensively, Sunday's offensive explosion was much needed and could be a sign of what we could see from the Golden Eagles in the second half of this season.

Where Eags Sit in This Week's Rankings

USM, Lawson Odom, Matthew Russo — Josh House

In the latest D1Baseball rankings, the Golden Eagles moved up from No. 11 to No. 8. The staff over at D1Baseball apparently believes that Sunday's performance against App State was what will get Southern Miss rolling again, and given how much talent is on this roster, we can't help but believe the same.

Although the Golden Eagles had an up-and-down week, they still outperformed some teams that were ahead of them in the standings. For example, then-No. 5 Auburn got swept by Alabama, a team that Southern Miss run-ruled a little over a month ago.

Not all rankings were as favorable to the Golden Eagles this week, though. In the latest Baseball America rankings, the Southern Miss stayed put at No. 16. In the latest Perfect Game rankings, the Golden Eagles actually fell one spot from No. 12 to No. 13.

At the end of the day, the only rankings that truly matter are the ones that come out before regionals. However, making a good impression throughout the regular season can pay dividends at the end of the year when the NCAA committee is sorting out which teams will host and what national seeds they'll be. We'll see if Southern Miss can get hot at the end of this season like it did last year, when it won a program-record 18 games in a row before finally losing in the Sun Belt Championship Game against top-seeded Coastal Carolina

The Week Ahead

This week, Southern Miss will take on Southeastern Louisiana at Pete Taylor Park on Tuesday night before traveling to Norfolk, Virginia, for a road Sun Belt series against Old Dominion. The Golden Eagles defeated the SELA Lions 3-1 at their place earlier this season and will look for the season sweep on Tuesday.

Just like Southern Miss' last two opponents, Troy and App State, Old Dominion doesn't intimidate with its record. So far this season, the Monarchs are 13-14 overall and 3-6 in Sun Belt play, which puts them 12th in the conference. The Golden Eagles currently sit at No. 4 in the Sun Belt with a 21-7 overall record and 5-4 conference record, but if the first few weeks of Sun Belt play have been any indicator, there will be no such thing as an "easy" conference win this season.

Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more baseball coverage throughout the week as the Golden Eagles look to build on the momentum they created in Sunday's blowout win over App State.