Southern Miss relies on pitching, defense in quest for berth in Super Regionals

The formula for Southern Miss will be pretty simple for this weekend’s NCAA Tournament’s Oxford Regional. The Golden Eagles must pitch and defend in order to advance to a Super Regional for the first time.

The Golden Eagles (38-21) meet Troy University (34-25) in an opening round game Friday at 3 p.m. at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field. Host Ole Miss takes on Sam Houston State in the nightcap at 7.

Veteran Golden Eagle coach Corky Palmer is hoping the team he had the last four weeks of the regular season will be the one that shows up against Troy.

&#8220We didn’t play that well in our conference tournament, but before that we were really playing well in the last third of the (regular) season when we won 10 in a row,” Palmer said. &#8220What we’ve got to do is pitch and defend because we’re not a great offensive team. In order for us to have a chance, we’ve got to defend.”

The matchup with Troy will be one of strength against strength. The Golden Eagles can trot out three top flight starting pitchers in Ryan Belanger, Barry Bowden and David Clark.

Belanger is 7-4 with a 2.63 earned run average and has struck out 82 batters in 99 1/3 innings. Bowden is 7-3 with a 3.12 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 92 1/3 innings. Clark is 8-5 and has pitched 88 1/3 innings.

Conversely, Troy has only one pitcher with an ERA under four and the team ERA is 5.54. The Trojans’ strength is their power. They have hit 74 home runs led by Clint Robinson, who has 17 along with 69 RBIs. Kevin Weidlich and Edgar Ramirez have 11 homers each.

&#8220We’re a senior dominant team and I think playing an extremely tough schedule helped us out,” Troy coach Bobby Pierce said. &#8220We won a game from Arkansas and they are a national seed. We beat Auburn, we won two of three from South Alabama and we split with Michigan.”

They also own a 3-2 win over the Golden Eagles in a game that was played on Feb. 25 at a tournament in Dothan, Ala.

&#8220We faced Belanger in that tournament in Dothan and we also saw (Tyler) Conn out of the bullpen,” Pierce said. &#8220We know their starting pitching and their bullpen is strong.”

Troy, which hit well during the regular season, slumped off a bit in its Sunbelt Conference Tournament. The Trojans were beaten in the semifinals, but still made the NCAAs because of their strong non-conference schedule.

&#8220I thought our lack of hitting might keep us out of the (NCAA) tournament. We didn’t swing the bats that well in our conference tournament.” Pierce said.

Troy’s pitching staff is led by Josh Dew (7-2, 2.56 ERA, 96 Ks). He was the Pitcher of the Year in the Sunbelt Conference.

For Palmer, the Golden Eagles may have to play without their best hitter in Trey Sutton, who was hitting .368 with eight homers before an injury in the C-USA Tournament.

&#8220We won’t know about him until Wednesday. We didn’t have him against Tulane and it hurt,” Palmer said.

If Sutton can’t go, look for Drew Carson (.244, 16 RBI) to be plugged in left field.

The best bat of late for the Golden Eagles has been Jody Blount, who has moved up to a .326 average and has six home runs.

&#8220Jody has been playing his best baseball the last six weeks. He’s had a lot of big hits for us in that span,” Palmer said.

Prideful Ole Miss targeting third straight Super Regional appearance

Mike Bianco takes a lot of pride in hosting a fourth straight NCAA Regional.

Hosting a third straight Super Regional would be even sweeter.

The road starts Friday night at 7 when the Rebels (37-23) host Sam Houston State (38-22) in an opening round game of the Oxford Regional at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.

The last two years have seen the Rebels win the Oxford Regional and then miss out on a berth to the College World Series with a third-game loss in the Super Regionals. Both times, against Texas and Miami, the Rebels won the first game of the best-of-three series and then lost the next two.

Bianco said his current Ole Miss team knows a thing about tough postseason losses. They are coming off one after top-ranked Vanderbilt rallied for a 7-6 win in the 10th inning in last week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament in Hoover, Ala.

&#8220We had it won twice and then we blew it in the 10th,” Bianco said. &#8220It was a difficult loss to swallow. But it was against the No. 1 team in the country. We had played really well with the exception of that Saturday with Vanderbilt.”

Friday’s game with Sam Houston, followed by, hopefully for the Rebs, two more against either Southern Miss or Troy, will turn that disappointment into joy.

&#8220It’s behind us. We’ve dealt with those types of games and have bounced back,” Bianco said. &#8220We’re certainly proud that we’re hosting a regional for the fourth straight year. And we’re one of only two teams in the country that can say that. It means a lot to our kids. But they also know, it’s now all about playing baseball.”

Sam Houston State coach Mark Johnson is no stranger to the postseason. He has won 846 games and took Texas A&M to a pair of College World Series appearances.

After leaving A&M in 2006, Johnson has taken his first Bearkats team to the NCAAs.

&#8220It’s a thrill to be going to Ole Miss with the tradition they’ve built over the past four years. It should be a great tournament in a great environment,” Johnson said. &#8220We’ve never played in front of that large of crowd before, but we have a fairly veteran team and we hope they can go out and play good baseball.”

The Bearkats come in on a roll after finishing fourth in the regular season in the Southland Conference.

&#8220We’ve played well at the end and we won our tournament. We just want to take our game out there, again, at Oxford,” Johnson said.

The key to the Bearkats is relief pitcher Luke Prihoda. He is one the nation’s leaders in saves with 17 and he owns a sparkling 1.21 ERA.

&#8220He’s the key and he was our MVP of the Southland. He really shortens the game for us,” Johnson said.

&#8220He comes in when they need him,” Bianco said. &#8220That might be when the game is in jeopardy or to close it out, but he can usually give them a couple of innings. He throws in upper 80s but has very good command.”

Ole Miss will counter with an experienced starting pitching staff built behind two All-SEC hurlers in Will Kline (6-2, 3.68 ERA) and Lance Lynn (7-4, 2.77 ERA). Together, the pair have struck out 253 batters in 117 innings of work.

&#8220We haven’t faced those kind of pitching numbers, especially from the SEC,” Johnson said. &#8220But they can also back them up with an excellent defense. A .980 fielding percentage is almost unheard of.”

The Bearkats bring in a .319 team batting average. Bobby Verbick is the top bat with .373 average which includes 13 home runs and 75 RBIs. Karl Krailo has 46 RBIs while batting .357.

Ole Miss is paced by All-SEC shortstop Zack Cozart (.300, 41 RBI) and by former Vicksburg High Gators in brothers Justin and Jordan Henry.

Justin Henry (.378, 22 extra base hits) made the All-SEC Tournament team for the third straight year. Jordan, a freshman outfielder, earned the SEC’s Freshman of the Year honor.