Southern Miss
Nicholls
Baseball Travels to Coast for Midweek Matchup with Nicholls
2/26/2024 5:06:00 PM | Baseball
Date           Time (CT)    Probable Pitchers
Tue., 27        6 p.m.         LH Dylan Farley, Sr. (1-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. RH Cole Boswell, Sr. (0-0, 20.25 ERA)
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Southern Miss baseball team makes its first appearance at Shuckers Ballpark since the 2019 season when the Golden Eagles play host to Nicholls in a 6 p.m. contest, Tuesday, in Biloxi, Miss.
The game can be heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network as well as heard online.
The Golden Eagles enjoy a 6-2 start in the inaugural season of Christian Ostrander and his eight-game start is the best for a Southern Miss first-year coach as compared to the four previous ones. Both Scott Berry (2010) and Pete Taylor (1959) started their careers 5-3, while Corky Palmer (1998) and Hill Denson (1984) opened their Southern Miss coaching tenures at 4-4 each.
Southern Miss plays a Colonels squad that enters the game with a 7-1 record, having swept Sacred Heart and Eastern Illinois in weekend series, while also winning a midweek contest over Dillard. The only setback was a 3-2 loss to Tulane last week. The Colonels, which finished 34-24 last season, reached the NCAA Tournament by virtue of winning the Southland Conference tournament. It was their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1998.
This will be the 48th meeting between the two schools with the Golden Eagles leading 29-17-1 in a series dating back to 1960. The meeting on the coast marks the fifth-straight between the schools at a neutral site venue and the second time at Shuckers Ballpark in Biloxi. Southern Miss won 16-8 the last time the two teams played in Biloxi in 2017.
Through the first eight games, Golden Eagle pitching has produced solid numbers as the squad fanned 99 and walked just 25 in 72 innings with a 3.38 ERA. In seven of the contests, the pitching staff accumulated at least 10 strikeouts and at least 13 five times, including a season-high 17 against Missouri State last Sunday.
The Golden Eagles will go with senior right-hander Cole Boswell on the mound against the Colonels, a transfer from Meridian Community College. In three seasons at Meridian, he posted a 21-4 record for the Eagles with 205 strikeouts, 99 walks, a 3.39 ERA over 186 innings. In his first appearance for the Golden Eagles, Boswell gave up three runs on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts over 1 1/3 innings last Wednesday at New Orleans.
In that UNO contest, the Golden Eagles exploded for 15 runs and 12 hits against New Orleans, both of which are season highs, while also adding a season-best 12 walks. Southern Miss scored a season-high four runs in three different innings in the game. The Golden Eagles then played in the three close games this past weekend with Missouri State, winning a pair of one-run games while losing a two-run contest.
In the weekend series, freshman Seth Smith registered a pair of go-ahead doubles against Missouri State. In Friday's game, Smith came off the bench and registered a double past the left fielder in the eighth for a 4-3 Golden Eagle victory. In the Sunday finale, doubled in the go-ahead run in the sixth to give the home squad a 5-4 advantage and that lead held up for the rest of the game.
The Golden Eagles are 14-5 all-time at Shuckers Ballpark, having won the 2018 and 2019 Conference USA Tournament championships in that facility. The program also finished second in that event in the facility in 2017.
Following the Nicholls game, the Golden Eagles return home to entertain Indiana State for a three-game series. Indiana State reached the NCAA Super Regionals a year ago. The series starts Friday with a 6 p.m. contest.
