Baseball Travels to Louisiana Tech for Three-Game Weekend Set

Dates                    Time (CT)            Probable Rotation
Fri, 8                     6 p.m.                  RH Niko Mazza, Jr. (2-0, 1.96 ERA) vs. RH Reed Smith, Sr. (0-0, 4.15 ERA)
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Sat., 9                   2 p.m.                  RH Billy Oldham, Sr. (2-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. LH Luke Nichols, Jr. (2-0, 2.25 ERA)
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Sun., 10                1 p.m.                  RH Will Armistead, Sr. (0-1, 6.75 ERA) vs. RH Turner Swistak,R-Jr. (2-0, 4.91 ERA)
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss takes to the road for its first weekend series away from home with a trip to Louisiana Tech for a three-game set at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in Ruston. The series starts with a 6 p.m., contest Friday.

The series will be web streamed through ESPN+ and can also be heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network as well as online at SouthernMiss.com.

Southern Miss enters the weekend with an 8-5 record, having dropped its last two games, including a 5-4 midweek setback against Mississippi State at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Tuesday.

The Golden Eagles, which play their final non-conference weekend, take on a Louisiana Tech club that heads into the series with a 12-1 record under eighth-year coach Lane Burroughs. The LA Tech coach worked as an assistant under Corky Palmer at Southern Miss from 1999-2007. LA Tech won their first 12 games to open the season, before dropping their initial contest of the year to Xavier Wednesday night 6-4 in Ruston.

Golden Eagle first-year coach Christian Ostrander is no stranger to this LA Tech program as he served as an associate head coach here from 2016-2017, while assistant coach Travis Creel worked for the Bulldogs from 2017-2019.

As for offensive standouts during the early going of the season for the Golden Eagles, newcomer Billy Butler, a graduate transfer from Rhode Island, has started to get hot for the Golden Eagle lineup. He has started in the last six games and has hit safely in five of those contests. He is hitting .400 (8x20) over that span with back-to-back two-hit games against Indiana State (3/3) and Mississippi State (3/5). He has now homered in consecutive games, both coming at the deepest part of the ballpark in center field. Butler now has 21 career collegiate homers.

Another first-year player, Seth Smith, continued his hot start with a two-run single versus Mississippi State. That follows a 3-for-8 series against Indiana State and a pair of go-ahead doubles in a couple of the Missouri State contests.

Both Dalton McIntyre and Slade Wilks each currently are tied for the team's longest hitting streak of the year at five games. Ozzie Pratt also had a five-game streak to open the campaign.

On the pitching side through the first 13 games, the Golden Eagle pitching staff has produced solid numbers as the squad has fanned 145 and walked just 41 in 118 innings with a 4.04 ERA. In nine 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 (2/25).

Following the LA Tech series, the Golden Eagles return home Tuesday when they entertain Alabama in a 6 p.m., contest at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.

Baseball Travels to Louisiana Tech for Three-Game Weekend Set

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Players Mentioned

Will Armistead

Billy Butler

Niko Mazza

Dalton McIntyre

Billy Oldham

Ozzie Pratt

Seth Smith

Slade Wilks

University of Southern Mississippi Athletics