Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com

Southern Miss opened the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Riverwalk Stadium on Wednesday afternoon with a record-setting 9-1 victory over Texas State.
The win marked the Golden Eagles’ 16th consecutive victory, a program record, and their third straight opening-game win in the Sun Belt Tournament.
“I’m very proud of the way the guys played today,” said Southern Miss Head Coach Christian Ostrander. “It was clean, all aspects; you know pitching, defense, offense. Being able to keep stacking on runs once you got a lead was huge. JB was lights out again, covering seven innings, ten strikeouts, and only five hits and one run… Again, just very proud of the overall effort of the guys.”
Jake Cook and Ozzie Pratt each drove in three runs to lead the Golden Eagles offensively. Ben Higdon collected three singles, while Cook, Pratt, Nick Monistere, Joey Urban and Tucker Stockman added two hits apiece as part of a 14-hit performance.
Southern Miss (42-13) scored in six of eight innings. The team opened scoring in the first with a sacrifice fly by Carson Paetow and an RBI single from Urban.
Cook delivered an RBI fielder’s choice in the third inning and added a two-run home run to right field in the fifth.
“I got a slider,” Cook said. “It was two strikes,… and I got one up and in. And I was able to get it up.”
Pratt followed with a two-run single in the fifth and an RBI single in the sixth. Matthew Russo added a sacrifice fly in the eighth to close out the scoring.
Starting pitcher JB Middleton improved to 10-1 on the season, allowing one run on five hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts over seven innings.
“It’s my job to go out there and try to get us that win and go as long as I can,…” Middleton said. “We got a lot of games to play in this tournament so I’m just trying to do my part for the team so that whoever’s next can go out there and do theirs.”
Kros Sivley pitched two perfect innings in relief, recording one strikeout.
Texas State (27-30) scored its only run in the sixth inning when Rashawn Galloway capped a three-hit frame with an RBI single. Bobcats starter Jesus Tovar (3-7) took the loss, giving up three runs on four hits with one walk and one strikeout.
The win marked Southern Miss’ 16th opening-game league tournament victory in its last 20 appearances and improved the team to 28-14 all-time in conference tournament openers.
Southern Miss will face Old Dominion in the winner’s bracket at 4 p.m. Thursday. All Sun Belt Tournament games are being streamed on ESPN+.