a fresh start?

Southern Miss gets to wipe the slate clean, sort of, on Friday when Rice comes to Taylor Park for the Conference USA opener. The start of this season has been a bit messy for the Golden Eagles, who showed up in some preseason polls. They’re 8-12. They were walloped by Mississippi State last week before 7,000 strong at Trustmark Park. They took a punch to the gut Wednesday night when Auburn beat them in 11 innings. On paper, the Eagles’ problems appear to be many. They’re hitting just .268 with little power (six homers, .351 slugging average). They’ve been outscored 115-94. The staff ERA is 4.58, and there are a lot of individual numbers uglier than that. Bright spots? Sure. Chase Fowler is hitting .345, Tim Lynch .314 with 13 RBIs. Andrew Pierce has pitched like an All-American, going 4-1 with a 1.91 ERA plus 43 strikeouts and just four walks in 37 2/3 innings. What the Eagles need is another couple of arms, at least, to pitch in with some shutdown innings. They need former ballyhooed recruits Mason Robbins (.270) and Connor Barron (.237 in 38 at-bats) to rise up at the plate. Rice also began the season with high expectations and scuffled out of the gate. The bad news for USM: The Owls (16-7) come in on a seven-game win streak.