HATTIESBURG — By the time the final out was recorded in Southern Miss‘ 10-0 loss to Ole Miss in the first game of the Hattiesburg Super Regional, the crowd of 5,474 at Pete Taylor Park had thinned out noticeably.
A Reece Ewing grand slam that wasn’t offered the only real moment for the Golden Eagles fans to cling to before a 3-0 Rebels lead turned into a 10-run bludgeoning Saturday.
But the Golden Eagles – and their fans – will be back Sunday (3 p.m., ESPNU). The looming shadow of elimination is an obstacle they’re familiar with after navigating three win-or-go-home contests to win the Hattiesburg Regional last week.
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“I told them, ‘We’ve got the pitching to win this thing,'” USM coach Scott Berry said. “Bottom line. We have the pitching to win this thing. Guys that are supposed to hit – they need to hit, and the other ones need to step up.”
Berry can hand the ball to his ace, Tanner Hall, for the second game of the series.
There are few better options in the nation. Hall, an All-American, entered the super regional with a 9-2 record and a 2.60 ERA.
And, speaking ahead of the series on Thursday, Hall made it clear the intensity will be something he embraces.
“I expect a lot of people to be here, I expect a lot of animosity, a lot of tension,” Hall said.
The Golden Eagles (47-18) will turn to Hall to swing the momentum in their favor, something that never happened Saturday against the Rebels (36-22).
With the game still within reach, Southern Miss placed runners in scoring position in the second, fourth and fifth innings and did not score. The most gut-wrenching of those failures for the Golden Eagles came in the fifth, when Ewing thought he’d put USM ahead 4-3 with a grand slam.
It turns out, he’d missed out by a few inches, the ball tailing just to the wrong side of the right field foul pole. Ewing whiffed on the next pitch, a slider from Ole Miss starter Dylan DeLucia, and left the bases loaded.
Berry said he didn’t feel any shift among his players after the near-miss – adding that he’d always thought the ball was foul. But the Golden Eagles allowed seven runs in the next half-inning to all-but decide the result.
That Ole Miss rally started against starter Hurston Waldrep, who took a line drive off the foot and was limping after the game.
“Adrenaline had me going,” Waldrep said. “Didn’t really feel it when it happened, but it’s hurting a little bit now.”
Justin Storm, Tyler Stuart and Drew Boyd all pitched before USM escaped that sixth inning, with Berry choosing to save his best relievers for Sunday and if needed Monday.
A week ago, the Golden Eagles woke up after blowing a four-run ninth-inning lead to LSU and beat Kennesaw State and the Tigers the next day in the regional.
Designated hitter Slade Wilks said Southern Miss will call on that experience as it looks to produce something similar.
But such an achievement will require a lot more than the listless performance Southern Miss turned in Saturday.
“We just didn’t do enough in any phase of the game to compete with the good team that they are,” Berry said.
Reach Southern Miss writer David Eckert at [email protected] or on Twitter @davideckert98.
