Why there are concerns after Southern Miss baseball's series loss to Louisiana in Sun Belt

To a degree, Southern Miss baseball has been right on pace with some of its previous successful teams.

The Golden Eagles are 27-17. Last season’s team that was one win away from the College World Series was 29-15 through 44 games. The 2022 team that hosted a super regional was 34-10, but they were on a similar trajectory for a long time.

This season’s Golden Eagles though are sliding. It’s unlike those past two teams that ignited at the right time.

Southern Miss’ series loss at Louisiana (33-13, 17-4 Sun Belt Conference) last week might’ve revealed that. It was an opportunity to pull within one game of the first place Ragin’ Cajuns in the standings. But the Golden Eagles (27-17, 12-9) lost two of three games and were nearly run-ruled in the finale.

Will Armistead's injury might be insurmountable

Last week was the first four games since Will Armistead’s stunning season-ending injury. While he hasn’t necessarily been Southern Miss’ best pitcher (1-1, 5.49 ERA) his absence leaves a void that it may not be able to overcome. 

Pitching depth had already been an issue and Armistead’s injury furthered it. 

In the final game against Louisiana, starter Kros Sivley was tagged with three earned runs in 2.1 innings. 

Southern Miss has Billy Oldham (5-1, 3.96 ERA) and Niko Mazza (6-3, 4.25) as locked-in starters. After them, it’s a guessing game of who Southern Miss’ third capable starter is — or if they even exist. Coach Christian Ostrander has experimented with a variety of options, but nobody yet has provided evidence to be the answer. 

Southern Miss has struggled to sweep

Southern Miss has won eight of its 11 series this season – not bad. But the problem is only one of those series wins was a sweep and it came in March against last place Marshall (13-29, 6-15).

The Golden Eagles have had six opportunities to sweep a series but have only won the finale once. 

For comparison, they had six sweeps in each of the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The most the Golden Eagles can get this season is four. 

That won’t cut it in the Sun Belt Tournament nor the NCAA Tournament — assuming they qualify.

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Southern Miss baseball's RPI and the road ahead

As of Monday, Southern Miss’ RPI is at 46, the third highest in the Sun Belt. It comes with the 49th most difficult schedule, according to warrennolan.com. 

Southern Miss is 6-6 in Quad 1 games and 7-6 in Quad 2 games. 

It has an ample opportunity this week for a résumé booster with Coastal Carolina (27-17, 11-10) coming to Hattiesburg for a three-game series beginning Friday (6 p.m., ESPN+). The Chanticleers are 24th in RPI. Southern Miss also hosts New Orleans (RPI 142) on Tuesday and Ole Miss (RPI 27) on May 14 for nonconference games. 

The Golden Eagles close the regular season with two Sun Belt series against Arkansas State (19-24-1, 6-14-1) and Texas State (22-23, 8-13), both of which have RPI’s in the 100s. Take care of business there, and it could be a soft landing spot to gain momentum into the Sun Belt Tournament.

Sam Sklar is the Southern Miss beat reporter for the Hattiesburg American. Email him at ssklar@hattiesb.gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.