University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Childhood Friends from Ripley Helping Southern Miss to the Postseason in Two Different Sports
5/18/2026 9:00:00 AM | Baseball, Men's Golf
By Tim Doherty, Special to SouthernMiss.com
(Editors Note: Both Jake Moffitt and Ty Long will be competing this week in the postseason; Moffitt in the NCAA Men's golf regional in Athens, Ga. and Long with the baseball team at the Sun Belt Tournament in Montgomery, Ala.)
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Ripley, Mississippi, can boast of the state's largest and one of the nation's oldest flea markets, its place smack-dab in the heart of the North Mississippi hill country blues tradition and ties to authors William Faulkner and John Grisham.
These days, the small north-central city of some 5,300 can take pride in a pair of homegrown, high school sports fixtures and the impact they've had on separate University of Southern Mississippi teams.
Sophomore Ty Long and his Golden Eagle teammates locked down the baseball program's 10th consecutive, 40-win season in the final, regular-season weekend series.
In the process, the 21-year-old infielder helped USM earn its first, regular-season Sun Belt Conference baseball championship and secured top seed in the SBC's postseason tournament.
"I'd say overall, I mean, it's awesome," Long said.
Freshman Jake Moffitt turned in one of the more remarkable seasons in Golden Eagles' men's golf, setting a school record by averaging 70.4 strokes per round over 30 rounds and earning SBC Freshman of the Year honors.
The 19-year-old Moffitt was one of the key cogs in helping USM secure a first-ever appearance in a NCAA Men's Golf Regional.
"Pretty cool," Moffitt said. "I mean, it was a goal we wrote down at the start of the year."
The childhood friends credit where and how they grew up for instilling a blue-collar, nose-to-the grindstone philosophy based on hard work and staying in the present.
"I think so," Moffitt said of the small-town world that helped shape him. "I think it definitely made us work harder, gave us a work ethic that was a lot harder. You know that people maybe in bigger towns have more resources or better resources and the only way you can beat them is to outwork them."
Long agreed.
"Me and Jake, I mean, we've never worried about anybody else but ourselves and what we're doing," Long said. "Like growing up, we didn't know anything else, man. You wake up and you put in the work and then you go to bed at the end of the day.Â
"Growing up in a small town, I think it lets us see things in perspective. Like Jake's going to play in an NCAA tournament, and he's going to go, 'Oh, cool. I'm in Georgia now and that's pretty cool.' But that moment's never going to get too big for us just because we kind of have a relaxed mindset when we're playing. We're more laid back mentally, I'd say, because of where we're from.
"Being from a smaller town, you know, not as many people may know who you are. Maybe there's not as many coaches looking at you. Like if Jake's talent was somewhere in a bigger town, who knows how many coaches would be talking to him. But that's just more fuel on the fire. Not that we need any more fuel."
That mindset has helped Long navigate his way at USM.
A former Class 4A Mr. Baseball and All-State selection, Long played sparingly in his first year as a Golden Eagle, making six pitching appearances, including two starts, and appearing in another seven games as an infielder during the 2025 season.
This spring, he earned the starting job at shortstop only to see Seth Smith's blistering bat lead to a lesser role for Long.
But an injury to third baseman Drey Barrett saw Long return to the starting lineup over the last few weeks of the regular season.
Long took the season in stride.
"No matter what happens in the season, it's always going to be fun if you just have the right mindset," Long said "Started the beginning of the year, expecting a lot of big things out of myself, and then Seth goes in, one of my good buddies, and performs well. So, what can you do? I mean, you cheer him on, just like you cheer on everybody else. I mean, you can't hope somebody does bad because that's extremely selfish and that's something that this program does not allow. It's something that's not going to happen.
"So, (you) just stay ready every game, pinch running, maybe sneaking in there to hit, lay down a bunt or something like that. Just being ready to go in for whatever the game calls for.
"Then Drey going down and getting a chance to go in at third, I've tried to take advantage of that as much as I can and then stay in that lineup for the remainder of the season."
Moffitt said he felt like coming into the golf program and contributing was realistic.
"I mean when I came here, I expected myself to play in every tournament," Moffitt said. "I felt like I was good enough to be on the starting five. My main goal was to have a counting score every time I teed it up.
"I mean, I'm playing how I expected myself to play. I've had good rounds and I've had bad rounds, but I think I probably had a couple more good rounds than I expected myself to have the first year.
"But, I mean, it's not a stretch to say I didn't expect this."
Moffitt said even though he felt like he could contribute, he knew he'd have to bring his A-game to do so.
"When I was coming in, I knew that I could start, but with as many good players as we had, I knew that I couldn't show up and play mediocre golf," he said. "But, I really didn't have that many nerves. I was pretty loose when I got here. I felt good."
Long, who was a year ahead of Moffitt in high school, said he has seen plenty of his friend's A-game.
"We were growing up, playing golf, and there was probably five us, at minimum, out there every day, sweating our tails off, and we're all wanting to scramble (everybody hitting their next shot from where the previous best shot of the group wound up), trying to have fun.
 "And one summer, Jake comes out there and says, 'I ain't scrambling. Ya'll can play me.'
So, he takes it to us every day and we probably play five or six holes and we're ready to go to the pool and Jake's playing 18."
The two said those summer days were every day from about the age of about 8 to 13.
Moffitt kept at it, putting in long hours at Pine Hill Golf and County and Club.
But baseball also loomed large for Moffitt, who spent a chunk of his youth on a traveling team making the tourney rounds.
"I played a lot of baseball," Moffitt said. "Played travel ball for six years. I was pretty into it for a while. I was 13 like right when COVID hit, so a lot of the baseball tournaments shut down and I decided to not be on a team in the spring when it hit. The golf course was about the only thing open."
But the diamond's loss produced a gem of another sort. Moffitt went on to lead Ripley High School to three, Class 4A state golf championships from 2022-2024, earning medalist honors all three years.
Now, after a one-for-the-books first year as a collegian, Moffitt and the Golden Eagles will spend their next few rounds playing in the uncharted territory of a NCAA regional.
"I think as a team, we want to come top five and make it to the national championship," Moffitt said. "Expectations, I know that we're a good enough team to do it. We just have to play like it. Everybody has to play on their game.
"But really, there's no pressure on us. I mean, we were not supposed to make it. Everybody was happy we just got to the regional. So, we can kind of go out there and just play as loose as we want to."
As for USM's baseball team, the goals remain the same: Sunbelt Conference titles; hosting in the NCAA postseason; earning a World Series slot and playing for a national championship.
Lofty expectations? Definitely.
Pressure? 

"In my opinion, no," Long said. "You can perceive it how you want to. You can say, 'All these people want us to do this, that, and whatever.' Or you can say, 'Yeah, all these people want us to do this, that, and whatever, and now, watch this.' Then you go do it, and then some.
"That sign out there (at Pete Taylor Park) shows what we've done. But that sign doesn't mean anything right now in this moment until we make something else happen. You know what I'm saying?"
Yes, and believe it or not, it doesn't get much more small-town Ripley than that.
Â
(Editors Note: Both Jake Moffitt and Ty Long will be competing this week in the postseason; Moffitt in the NCAA Men's golf regional in Athens, Ga. and Long with the baseball team at the Sun Belt Tournament in Montgomery, Ala.)
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Ripley, Mississippi, can boast of the state's largest and one of the nation's oldest flea markets, its place smack-dab in the heart of the North Mississippi hill country blues tradition and ties to authors William Faulkner and John Grisham.
These days, the small north-central city of some 5,300 can take pride in a pair of homegrown, high school sports fixtures and the impact they've had on separate University of Southern Mississippi teams.
Sophomore Ty Long and his Golden Eagle teammates locked down the baseball program's 10th consecutive, 40-win season in the final, regular-season weekend series.
In the process, the 21-year-old infielder helped USM earn its first, regular-season Sun Belt Conference baseball championship and secured top seed in the SBC's postseason tournament.
"I'd say overall, I mean, it's awesome," Long said.
Freshman Jake Moffitt turned in one of the more remarkable seasons in Golden Eagles' men's golf, setting a school record by averaging 70.4 strokes per round over 30 rounds and earning SBC Freshman of the Year honors.
The 19-year-old Moffitt was one of the key cogs in helping USM secure a first-ever appearance in a NCAA Men's Golf Regional.
"Pretty cool," Moffitt said. "I mean, it was a goal we wrote down at the start of the year."
The childhood friends credit where and how they grew up for instilling a blue-collar, nose-to-the grindstone philosophy based on hard work and staying in the present.
"I think so," Moffitt said of the small-town world that helped shape him. "I think it definitely made us work harder, gave us a work ethic that was a lot harder. You know that people maybe in bigger towns have more resources or better resources and the only way you can beat them is to outwork them."
Long agreed.
"Me and Jake, I mean, we've never worried about anybody else but ourselves and what we're doing," Long said. "Like growing up, we didn't know anything else, man. You wake up and you put in the work and then you go to bed at the end of the day.Â
"Growing up in a small town, I think it lets us see things in perspective. Like Jake's going to play in an NCAA tournament, and he's going to go, 'Oh, cool. I'm in Georgia now and that's pretty cool.' But that moment's never going to get too big for us just because we kind of have a relaxed mindset when we're playing. We're more laid back mentally, I'd say, because of where we're from.
"Being from a smaller town, you know, not as many people may know who you are. Maybe there's not as many coaches looking at you. Like if Jake's talent was somewhere in a bigger town, who knows how many coaches would be talking to him. But that's just more fuel on the fire. Not that we need any more fuel."
That mindset has helped Long navigate his way at USM.
A former Class 4A Mr. Baseball and All-State selection, Long played sparingly in his first year as a Golden Eagle, making six pitching appearances, including two starts, and appearing in another seven games as an infielder during the 2025 season.
This spring, he earned the starting job at shortstop only to see Seth Smith's blistering bat lead to a lesser role for Long.
But an injury to third baseman Drey Barrett saw Long return to the starting lineup over the last few weeks of the regular season.
Long took the season in stride.
"No matter what happens in the season, it's always going to be fun if you just have the right mindset," Long said "Started the beginning of the year, expecting a lot of big things out of myself, and then Seth goes in, one of my good buddies, and performs well. So, what can you do? I mean, you cheer him on, just like you cheer on everybody else. I mean, you can't hope somebody does bad because that's extremely selfish and that's something that this program does not allow. It's something that's not going to happen.
"So, (you) just stay ready every game, pinch running, maybe sneaking in there to hit, lay down a bunt or something like that. Just being ready to go in for whatever the game calls for.
"Then Drey going down and getting a chance to go in at third, I've tried to take advantage of that as much as I can and then stay in that lineup for the remainder of the season."
Moffitt said he felt like coming into the golf program and contributing was realistic.
"I mean when I came here, I expected myself to play in every tournament," Moffitt said. "I felt like I was good enough to be on the starting five. My main goal was to have a counting score every time I teed it up.
"I mean, I'm playing how I expected myself to play. I've had good rounds and I've had bad rounds, but I think I probably had a couple more good rounds than I expected myself to have the first year.
"But, I mean, it's not a stretch to say I didn't expect this."
Moffitt said even though he felt like he could contribute, he knew he'd have to bring his A-game to do so.
"When I was coming in, I knew that I could start, but with as many good players as we had, I knew that I couldn't show up and play mediocre golf," he said. "But, I really didn't have that many nerves. I was pretty loose when I got here. I felt good."
Long, who was a year ahead of Moffitt in high school, said he has seen plenty of his friend's A-game.
"We were growing up, playing golf, and there was probably five us, at minimum, out there every day, sweating our tails off, and we're all wanting to scramble (everybody hitting their next shot from where the previous best shot of the group wound up), trying to have fun.
 "And one summer, Jake comes out there and says, 'I ain't scrambling. Ya'll can play me.'
So, he takes it to us every day and we probably play five or six holes and we're ready to go to the pool and Jake's playing 18."
The two said those summer days were every day from about the age of about 8 to 13.
Moffitt kept at it, putting in long hours at Pine Hill Golf and County and Club.
But baseball also loomed large for Moffitt, who spent a chunk of his youth on a traveling team making the tourney rounds.
"I played a lot of baseball," Moffitt said. "Played travel ball for six years. I was pretty into it for a while. I was 13 like right when COVID hit, so a lot of the baseball tournaments shut down and I decided to not be on a team in the spring when it hit. The golf course was about the only thing open."
But the diamond's loss produced a gem of another sort. Moffitt went on to lead Ripley High School to three, Class 4A state golf championships from 2022-2024, earning medalist honors all three years.
Now, after a one-for-the-books first year as a collegian, Moffitt and the Golden Eagles will spend their next few rounds playing in the uncharted territory of a NCAA regional.
"I think as a team, we want to come top five and make it to the national championship," Moffitt said. "Expectations, I know that we're a good enough team to do it. We just have to play like it. Everybody has to play on their game.
"But really, there's no pressure on us. I mean, we were not supposed to make it. Everybody was happy we just got to the regional. So, we can kind of go out there and just play as loose as we want to."
As for USM's baseball team, the goals remain the same: Sunbelt Conference titles; hosting in the NCAA postseason; earning a World Series slot and playing for a national championship.
Lofty expectations? Definitely.
Pressure? 

"In my opinion, no," Long said. "You can perceive it how you want to. You can say, 'All these people want us to do this, that, and whatever.' Or you can say, 'Yeah, all these people want us to do this, that, and whatever, and now, watch this.' Then you go do it, and then some.
"That sign out there (at Pete Taylor Park) shows what we've done. But that sign doesn't mean anything right now in this moment until we make something else happen. You know what I'm saying?"
Yes, and believe it or not, it doesn't get much more small-town Ripley than that.
Â
Players Mentioned
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