Ben Brewer - Baseball Coach

Ben Brewer

Title:
Assistant Coach
Phone:
266-6542

Ben Brewer is in his fourth year on the Southern Miss baseball coach staff for the 2025 season.

Brewer was elevated from volunteer to full-time assistant prior to the 2024 campaign, where he supports with Golden Eagle hitting as well as serving as first-base coach. His time also is focused on overseeing player development as well as with hitting, catchers and on-campus recruiting. He also assists in Golden Eagle camps.

In 2024, Brewer helped the team register its best batting average since 2018 with a .294 to go along with the team’s most doubles (135) during his six seasons. The team’s hit total (631) finished No. 19 nationally, while the doubles sum ranked No. 12. The Golden Eagles now have also finished nationally in the Top 30 in doubles in each of the last four seasons, including its highest ranking in 2024.

In addition, the Golden Eagles registered its most stolen bases (43) since 2018. Golden Eagle catchers also combined for just one error. Southern Miss also enjoyed a 2.63 strikeout/walk ratio which ranked No. 15 nationally.

Brewer came to Southern Miss after spending two seasons at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

In his final year at SIU, the Salukis went 40-20 in 2021, posting the most program wins in 31 years. The Salukis were one of the best offensive teams in the nation in 2021, ranking among the top-20 nationally (of 286) in hits (10th), slugging percentage (10th), home runs (15th), and runs scored (16th). Defensively, SIU ranked seventh in the nation in double plays.

The Salukis also won 19-straight games overlapping the 2020 and 2021 seasons, their longest winning streak at SIU since 1974 and the program’s 14-0 start in 2021 was the best start in program history.

The 2021 Salukis hit 84 home runs, which shattered the previous program record of 75 homers set in 1998. SIU collected five wins over the RPI top-50, six wins over teams that made the NCAA Tournament, and nine wins over the RPI top-100, including a four-game series split with Dallas Baptist.

In Brewer’s first season at SIU, the Salukis went 12-6 in the shortened 2020 season and was ranked in the top-50 nationally in the RPI at the end of the year.

Offensively, SIU led the Missouri Valley Conference in batting average, hits, walks, doubles, on-base percentage, and stolen bases. The Salukis ranked among the national leaders in stolen bases (fourth), walks (14th), doubles (16th), and hits (17th).

Defensively, SIU was also outstanding in 2020, leading the MVC in fielding percentage and double plays. The Salukis turned 18 double plays in 18 games, which ranked ninth nationally. SIU committed only 12 errors in 18 games, and its .982 fielding percentage led the MVC and ranked 15th nationally. Brewer worked with the catchers, and SIU catcher Austin Ulick led the MVC in runners caught stealing.

As a player, Brewer was a catcher at UT Martin from 2010-13. He started his career at the prep level, including strength and conditioning experience in 2014. He started his baseball coaching career as a graduate assistant at Belhaven University in 2016 and 2017, where he helped lead the Blazers to back-to-back winning seasons. The 2017 team played its best down the stretch, ending the year with an eight-game winning streak.

Brewer worked with hitters, catchers, base running, and scouting reports in a two-year stint as an assistant coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in 2018 and 2019. He developed two-time All-American Brandon Parker into the 2019 NJCAA Division II National Player of the Year. Parker was drafted in the 10th round of the 2019 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves. In Brewer’s two seasons at MGCCC, the Bulldogs went 65-34 (.657).

Brewer graduated cum laude from UT Martin in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in health and human performance. He earned his master’s in sports administration from Belhaven University in 2018.

He is married to Mary Brewer of Brandon, Miss., and they currently reside in Petal, Miss., with her two children, Evan and Madison.