Why Southern Miss baseball will – and won’t – win Hattiesburg Regional

Southern Miss baseball won 43 games and the Conference USA regular-season title, and the NCAA rewarded it for that.

The Golden Eagles (43-16) will be the host team and No. 1 seed at the Hattiesburg Regional, which begins Friday at Pete Taylor Park. Joining them, in order of seeding, will be LSU, Kennesaw State and Army. Southern Miss will face Army at 1 p.m. Friday, with LSU and Kennesaw State playing at 6 p.m..

It marks just the third time in program history Hattiesburg has hosted an NCAA regional. It did not advance in 2003 and 2017, the other two years it hosted

Pitching – Edge: Southern Miss

Pitching has been the Golden Eagles’ strength all season and the numbers hold up well against the rest of the Hattiesburg Regional field.

Southern Miss’ 3.04 team ERA is the second-best mark in the country, behind only No. 1 overall seed Tennessee.

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LSU sports a 4.09 team ERA, Army is next at 4.76 and Kennesaw State is at 6.08.

Ace right-hander Tanner Hall (8-2, 2.69) leads a Golden Eagle rotation that includes fellow righties Hurston Waldrep (6-1, 2.99) and Hunter Riggins (8-4, 2.75). The bullpen is led by a strong triumvirate that includes right-hander Landon Harper (2.27, 11 saves), lefty Dalton Rogers (1.67, six saves) and right-hander Garrett Ramsey (5-0, 2.35, four saves).

Hitting – Edge: LSU

The Tigers (38-20) are the clear-cut cream of this crop offensively.

Coming out of the mighty SEC, LSU finished second in the league in hitting (.289) and are top 10 in the nation with 107 home runs this season.

Sophomore outfielder Dylan Crews is a big part of that. The co-SEC Player of the Year (LSU’s first since 2012) has hit 21 homers – the most by a Tiger since 2009. Crews’ 68 RBIs rank inside the top 40 in the nation.

Kennesaw State could make a case here as well, as it comes into play with a Hattiesburg Regional-high .301 batting average. Southern Miss can also swing it. The Golden Eagles have five players with 10 or more home runs, the most of any team in the regional.

But LSU has four players hitting .300 or better and has scored more runs this season than the other three teams.

NCAA TOURNAMENT:Southern Miss baseball will host Hattiesburg Regional

Fielding – Edge: Southern Miss

Defense could be the X-factor in deciding which team advances to the Super Regional round.

If that turns out to be the case, the edge belongs to the Golden Eagles. First off, being the host team, they will be the most familiar with the atmosphere, the conditions and the playing surface.

But USM coach Scot Berry’s club also has the numbers to back it up. Southern Miss has the best fielding percentage (.976) of the four teams and it is playing well lately (just nine errors in its last 16 games).

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.

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Why Southern Miss baseball will – and won’t – win Hattiesburg Regional

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