Southern Miss will host LSU, Kennesaw State and Army at the Hattiesburg Regional as the No. 11 national seed, the NCAA announced Monday.
Top seed Southern Miss will face 4-seed Army at 1 p.m. Friday, while 2-seed LSU and 3-seed Kennesaw State will meet at 6 p.m. Friday. The first two games will air on ESPN+.
The winner of the Hattiesburg Regional will face the winner of the Coral Gables Regional in the Super Regional round.
It’s the third time in program history the Golden Eagles will host the first leg of the NCAA Tournament. They also hosted in 2017, falling to Mississippi State in the finals, and in 2003 as the No. 2 seed. The team has not missed an NCAA Tournament since 2015.
The Golden Eagles (43-16), who were ranked as high as No. 5 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll this season, finished the regular season ranked 12th in the poll and 17th in the RPI ratings. The team went 2-2 in last week’s Conference USA tournament at Pete Taylor Park, dropping its home record this season to 22-10. The Golden Eagles are 21-6 away from home.
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Upon elimination from the C-USA tournament, Southern Miss baseball coach Scott Berry was confident his club would be rewarded with one of the 16 host bids based on the big picture.
“I think it should be looked at, what your body of work is over the long haul,” he said.
NCAA Hattiesburg Regional schedule, TV times
First pitch times, TBD
Friday’s games
Game 1: No. 1 Southern Miss (43-16) vs. No. 4 Army (31-23), 1 p.m., ESPN+
Game 2: No. 2 LSU (38-20) vs. No. 3 Kennesaw State (35-26), 6 p.m., ESPN+
Saturday’s games
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, TBD, TBD
Game 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, TBD, TBD
Sunday’s games
Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, TBD, TBD
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, TBD, TBD
Monday’s game (if necessary)
Game 7: Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser, TBD, TBD
