#11 Southern Miss Continues to Make Their Case as One of the Top Teams in the Country
#11 Southern Miss was the biggest riser among top 25 ranked teams in the most recent top 25 update, and they look like a team poised to make a jump into the top ten after taking down #3 Mississippi State in their mid-week match-up on Tuesday night. It’s the second week in a row that the Golden Eagles triumphed over an SEC team in their mid-week after they beat Alabama in convincing fashion by a score of 14-4 last Tuesday. On top of that, they have a win over #19 Oregon State and wins over power-four teams Baylor and Purdue. Following Tuesday’s win over Mississippi State, Southern Miss is riding an 11-game win streak after they dropped their opener to UC Santa Barbara in which the opposing starter was Jackson Flora, one of the top pitchers in college baseball and the highest ranked pitcher on the 2026 MLB Draft board. Their previous weekend series featured a clean road sweep over Louisiana Tech, a strong mid-major that entered the series with an 8-1 record. Southern Miss’s resume to this point is hard to argue against and only proves they belong in the Omaha conversation along with the top teams in the country.
The pitching has been the strength for the Golden Eagles to this point. They have yet to allow a double-digit run total in a game thus far, recording one shutout and two games in which they limited the opposing offense to just one run. That has resulted in the pitching staff owning a 2.53 ERA as a group, a mark that ranks ninth in the entire nation. The run prevention hasn’t been entirely a product of batted ball luck or good defense either - pitchers are striking out 11 batters per nine innings to just 3.4 walks per nine innings, resulting in a 3.25 strikeout to walk ratio which ranks 27th in the nation.
The production from the mound starts with the weekend rotation, led by right-handed senior Colby Allen on Friday nights. Allen threw primarily out of the bullpen in 2025, but has slotted in nicely at the front of the rotation after the Eagles lost last year’s Friday starter JB Middleton to the second round of the draft via the Colorado Rockies. Allen owns a 2.45 ERA through 14.2 innings of work. Sophomores Grayden Harris and McCarty English are covering Saturdays and Sundays and have been just as, if not more, effective that Allen. The left-handed Harris is up to 17 strikeouts in 14 innings of work through three weekend starts which includes six shutout innings against Louisiana Tech this past Saturday. The right-hander English has yet to be stretched out over more than three innings in a start, but has flashed some legitimate stuff in the form of a high-ride fastball and a slider that gets whiffs at a high rate.
The mid-weeks have been covered primarily by the bullpen which has been a group just as important and even more dominant than the starting rotation. Seven different relievers have made multiple appearances without allowing a run thus far. Sophomore right-hander Camden Sunstrom has arguably been the most important part of the group, working in a number of different roles effectively. He made a three inning start against Southeastern Louisiana, but also had a four inning save over Oregon State. Despite having just one start under his belt, Sunstrom has thrown the second most innings on the team with 14.1, and owns a 1.26 ERA with a 35.6 strikeout rate to zero walks - yes, a high-strikeout college reliever with zero walks to his record through five appearances. The right-hander features a fastball-sinker-slider mix with the slider standing out as his best offering. It warranted a ridiculous 80% whiff rate in his clutch four-inning outing against Oregon State, his best outing to date. Other strong performances include senior left-hander Kros Sivley, junior right-hander Josh Och, and sophomore right-hander Camden Clark.
On the hitting side of things, the lineup hasn't been nearly as dominant as the pitching, but it has showed up when it has needed to and has gotten a lot of production from some experienced bats. This is a lineup that has only seven plate appearances covered by freshmen and 72 covered by sophomores. Senior center fielder Joey Urban has produced the most, leading the team with a 1.320 OPS, four home runs, and 12 walks to just seven strikeouts exclusively from the two hole. Senior second baseman and South Alabama transfer Kyle Morrison has three home runs of his own with a 1.072 OPS. Junior Seth Smith has taken over at shortstop and has led the team in batting average thus far at .444 with a 1.114 OPS from the bottom of the order. Senior first baseman Matthew Russo has gotten off to a slow start as he owns just a .682 OPS through his first 12 games, but this lineup will look much different once he turns it on as he posted an OPS north of .900 in each of the last two seasons.
A strong showing early on this season has quickly vaulted the Eagles up from a top 25 bubble team to a team with an argument to be in the top ten as undisputably the best mid-major program in the country right now. With multiple ranked wins under their belt, it’s clear that this Southern Miss team should be considered Omaha hopefuls. Their schedule loosens up a bit as they enter conference play, but will still take on Sun Belt mainstays such as Troy, Louisiana, and Texas State later on in the season. They also get a rematch with Mississippi State on the road in two weeks while they also get two with Ole Miss, one coming next week at home.
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