Tag Archives: Hattiesburg Regional

26 May

set a course for omaha

The College World Series is the ultimate destination, and the path has been laid out for Ole Miss, Southern Miss and Mississippi State, each of which made the NCAA Tournament field of 64. Each must clear considerable hurdles in the bracket to get to Omaha. Ole Miss, hosting a regional as the No. 10 national seed, will welcome Georgia Tech, Western Kentucky and Murray State to Oxford next weekend. Tech — seeded second in the regional — is 40-17, won the ACC regular season title and was ranked 19th in the final Baseball America poll. Shortstop Kyle Lodise is an MLB draft prospect. Western Kentucky, the 3-seed, is 46-12 and comes in hot, having won the C-USA Tournament title. Should the Rebels win their regional, they’d meet the champion of the Athens Regional, where Georgia — ranked No. 3 by Baseball America — is the favorite to advance. USM, hosting a regional as the 16th national seed, welcomes Alabama, Miami and Columbia to Hattiesburg. Columbia, USM’s first-round foe, won both the regular season and tournament titles in the Ivy League. Alabama, out of the vaunted SEC, is the 2-seed in Hattiesburg and is ranked No. 18 by Baseball America; the Crimson Tide beat USM in early April. Bama’s Riley Quick, a 6-foot-6, 255-pound right-hander, is a prime pro prospect. Worth noting: Miami, the regional 3-seed, claims four national titles — the last in 2001 — and 25 — yes, 25 — CWS appearances. The Hattiesburg Regional is paired with the Nashville Regional, where Vanderbilt, the overall No. 1 seed and the SEC Tournament champ, is lurking as the heavy favorite to make the Super Regional round. Mississippi State, 34-21 in a tumultuous year, heads to the Tallahassee Regional as a 3-seed. First up for the Bulldogs is Northeastern (48-9), the CAA regular season and tournament champion and Baseball America’s No. 24. Reports say the Huskies can really pitch. Regional host Florida State, the No. 9 overall seed, is 38-14 and boasts a host of MLB draft prospects, most notably shortstop Alex Lodise. These are heady times for Magnolia State schools. MSU won the national title in 2021 and Ole Miss in 2022. USM has been in a regional nine of the past 10 seasons (there was no postseason in 2020) but only once has reached Omaha (2009). The path there in 2025 certainly ain’t easy for any of the three — but, as we know, unexpected stuff often happens in baseball.

06 Jun

momentum

You know the old saying in baseball: Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher. The focus today is on who might take the mound for Southern Miss and Ole Miss, both hoping to catch a wave. USM got clutch pitching efforts from Hunter Riggins, Tyler Stuart and Justin Storm in winning a pair of elimination games Sunday in the Hattiesburg Regional. The Golden Eagles now face a winner-take-all game against LSU at 3 p.m. at Taylor Park. Can coach Scott Berry get some quality innings from Tanner Hall, the C-USA pitcher of the year who worked eight innings on Friday? The bullpen is stretched thin. Five pitchers threw on Saturday night. It took six to get through Sunday. Ole Miss is in a much more enviable position in the Coral Gables Regional. The Rebels are 2-0 going into today’s championship round against Arizona, a team they beat on Saturday. The Wildcats had to win twice on Sunday to stay alive; they’ll have to do that again today. UM has used five different pitchers — Brandon Johnson closed both games — and yielded just five runs while punching out 35. Derek Diamond, who has had a disappointing season (4-4, 6.57 ERA), could get a shot at redemption today. Arizona roughed up Diamond in their Super Regional meeting in 2021. Outs are hard to get when the heat rises in tournament baseball, but if USM and Ole Miss can summon some more clutch pitching, we’ll get that dream matchup in the Super Regional next weekend.

03 Jun

in a word

If you had to assess Southern Miss with one word, it would be: pitching. The Golden Eagles have a deep and talented stable of arms that enters the Hattiesburg Regional with a 3.04 ERA, among the nation’s best. Tanner Hall was C-USA pitcher of the year and the state’s Ferriss Trophy winner. For LSU, the 2-seed in the regional, the word would be power. The Tigers raked 107 home runs, led by the remarkable Dylan Crews with 21. Army, the 4-seed, is mostly about speed. The Black Knights swiped 101 bases this season, led by Hunter Meade with 31. Kennesaw State is a curiosity. The Owls’ pitching is highly suspect; they don’t hit a ton of homers or steal a bunch of bases. But KSU does have Josh Hatcher, an All-America candidate who hit .386 with 13 homers, 55 RBIs and 60 runs and twice hit for the cycle in 2022. (Unfortunately, he doesn’t pitch.) USM (43-16, 22-10 at Taylor Park) does enough with the bats (.283, 77 homers) that it should prevail in the regional and make the Super Regional. But LSU, which didn’t have a typical season (38-20, 17-13 SEC), certainly poses a threat. In a published poll, four Gannett “experts” split between USM and LSU as the regional favorite. (All four picked Miami to come out of the Coral Gables Regional, where Ole Miss is playing. That regional champion plays the Hattiesburg champ in the Super Regional.)

29 May

the other guys

Beyond top-seeded Southern Miss and No. 2 Mississippi State, there are other significant Magnolia State connections in the Hattiesburg Regional. South Alabama, the 3-seed and State’s first-round opponent, features a trio of Mississippians: Wells Davis from Columbus and New Hope High, Dylan Hardy from D’Iberville High and Randy Bell from Woodville, Centerville Academy and Hinds Community College. Hardy is one of the Jaguars’ top hitters with a .358 average and has 18 stolen bases. Davis is second on the team in homers with 12 and is batting .290 with 55 RBIs. Bell, who was the NJCAA Division II pitcher of the year at Hinds in 2015, is one of the Jags’ top starters. He is 6-3 with a 3.75 ERA this season after going 7-1, 2.45 (including a regional victory) in 2016. South Alabama, traditionally a strong program, is 39-19 and champion of the Sun Belt Conference.