Riding high off of a conference sweep against Western Kentucky, Southern Miss Baseball prepares to take on rival Louisiana Tech this weekend.

The Golden Eagles sit at 17-7 and 5-1 in conference play. Last weekend against WKU, Southern Miss swept in Conference USA weekly baseball awards.

 C-USA awarded junior first baseman Christopher Sargent with hitter of the week. Sargent also won the Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week, going 12-for-20 with nine runs, three doubles, five home runs, and 15 RBI.

Right-handed pitcher Hurston Waldrep earned C-USA pitcher of the week. Waldrep tallied his first complete game (seven innings), had a career-high 13 strikeouts and just allowed three baserunners.

Southern Miss sits atop Conference USA at 5-1 but are tied for first with non-other than Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs are coming off a weekend sweep before falling on Tuesday to Dallas Baptist.

Scouting the Bulldogs

The Bulldogs sit at 18-7 and 5-1 in conference play; they have won 11 of their last 14 games.

Pitching 

The Bulldogs come into the weekend with a team total of 3.95 ERA, allowing 189 hits and 107 runs on the season. Louisiana Tech also has posted 250 strikeouts on the season.

The weekend rotation for Louisiana Tech will start with left-handed pitcher Johnathan Fincher (5-0) on Friday. Fincher has posted a 3.19 ERA on the season, allowing just 32 hits and 12 runs.

On Saturday, left-handed pitcher Cade Gibson, RSr. (3-0) he currently has a 2.62 ERA on the season.

Sunday’s pitcher has not been announced.

Batting

Louisiana Tech comes into the series hitting at a .282 with 240 hits on the season, including 55 doubles, five triples, and 33 home runs.

 Senior shortstop Taylor Young leads the team in hitting, batting at a .382 average. He has driven in 23 RBIs, 34 hits and four home runs.

Sophomore outfielder Cole McConnell follows Young closely behind, batting at a .365 average with 35 hits and leads the team in home runs at five. He also has batted in a team-high 37 runs.

Southern Miss leads the all-time series against the Bulldogs at 21-14. Louisiana Tech won the last two games when it mattered, however, knocking the Golden Eagles out of the Conference USA Tournament last season.

Scouting the Golden Eagles 

Pitching

Pitching has been one of the most potent weapons against opponents this season for the Golden Eagles. This weekend, they will undoubtedly use this weapon to total capacity against the Bulldogs.

The weekend rotation has not changed for Southern Miss. 

Friday will feature Tanner Hall. Hall has a 3-0 record and posted a 2.86 ERA. 

Saturday will be Hunter Riggins’ day; Riggins has posted a 3-1 record and a 2.04 ERA. 

Finally, it will be Waldrep’s turn on Sunday. Waldrep, who had a career day last week, will be looking to extend that hot hand. Waldrep has a 2-1 record and a 2.48 ERA.

The Golden Eagles’ pitching crew has posted a 3.17 ERA on the season and allowed 189 hits and eight home runs. They have 257 strikeouts and just 52 bases on balls.

Batting

The Golden Eagles have been on fire from the plate over the past week, notching an impressive .375 average as a team. That average includes scoring 47 runs and hitting 13 home runs.

Sargent, as earlier mentioned, had an award-winning week last week; his season average sits at a .279. Along with 29 hits and eight home runs, he also has driven in 25 runs. 

Dustin Dickerson leads all Golden Eagles in batting this season. His average sits at .383 with 36 hits and 14 runs batted in.

Dickerson went off last week with Sargent, tallying a .632 batting average and going 12-of-19 last week with four doubles and three runs batted in.

Slade Wilks is second in team average from the plate; he has a .341 average along with 29 hits and 20 runs batted in. Wilks also had five dingers to the yard just in the past week.

Last season, this series was some of the most exciting conference baseball throughout the entire year. The tension will be riding high in Hattiesburg this weekend, and not to mention this is the last time these two ball clubs will meet in the regular season as conference foes since Southern Miss has confirmed it is moving to the Sun Belt.

Louisiana Tech will be riding its undefeated pitchers and hitting in the series. Southern Miss will try and do what they have done all season- pitch well and hope their batters come out like they did this past weekend. 

One of the ways for the Golden Eagles to do that is to get the Bulldog’s pitcher’s pitch count high so they can get him out of the game early.

Regardless, it’s shaped to be a good series, so get ready for some good baseball this weekend in Hattiesburg, MS.

The first pitch on Friday is set for 6 pm.