Baseball Travels to Pearl Wednesday to Face Mississippi State
3/2/2021
Southern Miss (4-3) vs. Mississippi State (5-2)
Game 8 | March 3, 2021 | Trustmark Park | Pearl, Miss.
| Upcoming Game | Time (CT) | Probable Pitchers | Radio & Webstream |
| Wed., March 3 | 6 p.m. | LH Drew Boyd, So. (1-0, 0.00) vs. LH Houston Harding, Jr. (0-1, 1.69) | Southern Miss Network/No Webstream |
The Game: Southern Miss plays its only neutral site contest of the season as they travel to Pearl to face Mississippi State in the lone meeting between the two schools during the regular season.
Against the Bulldogs: Mississippi State leads the overall series 83-43, but Southern Miss has won four of the last six meetings dating back to the start of the 2018 season. This will be the first time the two teams have played at Trustmark Park since 2017, after the they played three-game sets at each other’s home park in 2018 and 2019. Southern Miss swept the Bulldogs in Hattiesburg to start the 2018 campaign and took one of three in Starkville in 2019. Charlie Fischer provided a 10th-inning, run-scoring single in the opening-game win at Dudy Noble Field which was the only run of the game.
Mississippi State: The Bulldogs, who rank No. 3 by D1Baseball.com, are projected again to reach the NCAA Tournament and was that outlet’s pick to finish second in the SEC West. They are off to a 5-2 start, after enjoying a pair of walk-off victories over Tulane last weekend. MSU is coached by Chris Lemonis who is in his 3rd year with the Bulldogs and has posted a 69-21 record there.
Starting Pitcher: The Golden Eagles look to fourth-year sophomore Drew Boyd (Hattiesburg, Miss./Oak Grove HS) to get the call against MSU. He won his first start of the year as he limited Northwestern State to two hits and no walks with nine strikeouts over five innings in a 10-0 victory on Feb. 22. In his career, he has appeared in five games including three starts and posted a 1-0 record with a 5.40 ERA.
Returning to Trustmark: This will be the 33rd scheduled game for the Golden Eagles at Trustmark Park with Southern Miss holding a 17-15 record there, including a 4-5 mark versus the Bulldogs. Southern Miss participated in the 2011 and 2012 Conference USA Tournament at the facility and its first ever game goes back to April 4, 2006, at the home of the Double A Atlanta Braves affiliate, the Mississippi Braves. Southern Miss defeated Ole Miss that day, 13-6.
Back to the NCAAs in 2019: Southern Miss appeared in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth-straight year and the 16th time overall, playing in the Baton Rouge Regional to complete its 2019 season. The Golden Eagles made their first-ever appearance in the postseason in 1990, with a trip to Baton Rouge, and at one point, reached regional play nine-straight seasons, from 2003-11.
Golden Eagles Take C-USA Title: Southern Miss captured the last Conference USA tournament title in 2019 and have won three of the last four events - making the championship game in all four seasons. The Golden Eagles also captured the 2018 C-USA regular season and tournament titles, marking the second time Southern Miss had won both C-USA championships in the same season with the other time coming in 2003. Four of the school’s five C-USA regular season titles have come under current head coach Scott Berry, while he has also led Southern Miss to four of their five tournament titles.
Pitching Strong Over First Four Games: The Golden Eagle pitching staff registered double-digit strikeouts in each of the first six games, having the streak snapped in the final contest of the UCONN series when they only tallied nine. This season, Southern Miss has collected 91 strikeouts as a staff with only 12 walks for a 7.58-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. After Sunday’s games, the Golden Eagles ranked second in the NCAA statistics in strikeout to walk ratio behind only Kentucky (10.25) and their strikeouts over nine innings ranked No. 3 at 13.7. Hunter Stanley is tied for No. 2 in the country in strikeouts and ranks first in strikeout to walk ratio at 22.0. The Golden Eagles have thrown 668 strikes over 1,003 pitches in 2021 for a 66.6% success percentage.
Extra Base Hits the Norm over the Weekend: While the Golden Eagles managed just 19 hits in the three-game series with UCONN, 16 went for extra bases including 10 doubles and six home runs. Christopher Sargent (picture above) belted two homers on Saturday and drove in five runs.
