Southern Miss Series Recap: Old Dominion

Conference play has arrived for Southern Miss. The first Sun Belt test of the 2025 season saw the Golden Eagles face off against Old Dominion in a weekend that provided a bit of everything.

Game 1: Southern Miss - 11 Old Dominion - 2

Southern Miss got out of the gates fast and early. The scoring kicked off in the 1st inning thanks to a sac-fly by Davis Gillespie, who was able to bring home Jake Cook who beat out the tag at home thanks to a mistake by Old Dominion’s catcher. It only continued in the second, where the onslaught began. It all started with Nick Monistere, who got his 4th home run of the year on a solo-shot that went 449 ft to make it 2-0. It didn’t stop there though, as the mistakes for Old Dominion continued. Drey Barrett knocked in a run thanks to a fielder's choice that almost could’ve been a double play but the ball was overthrown. Right after that, Tucker Stockman scored thanks to a wild throw that grew the Golden Eagles lead to 4-0. The 3rd inning was more of the same, as Nick Monistere struck once more with an RBI single to make it five. Joey Urban helped make it six thanks to an RBI double, and Tucker Stockman finished the onslaught for the moment with an RBI sac-fly. Old Dominion was able to get two runs back thanks to a solo-shot in the 4th, along with an RBI double in the 6th, but the Golden Eagles put the game away thanks to a home run from Pratt to give the first win of the series to Southern Miss.

Game 2: Southern Miss - 11 Old Dominion - 4

Game 2 featured a taste of Sun Belt baseball after dark. Thanks to inclement weather in the Hattiesburg area, that pushed Game 2 back to 8 p.m. which saw an unusual start for Southern Miss. Old Dominion came out the gates flying, as the Monarchs wasted no time at all getting the scoring started with a two-run homer in the first. Old Dominion continued to keep the pressure going with a run in the 2nd thanks to an error, and in the 3rd with a solo-shot home run. It took the 4th inning for Southern Miss to get on the board as Carson Paetow responded with a two-run homer of his own to get the Golden Eagles back in it. Fast forward to the 7th inning, Matthew Russo brought in another run thanks to a RBI sac-fly. But the story of this game was told more in the bottom of the 8th. It all started with Drey Barrett. The Freshman kicked off the comeback efforts with a RBI Double to give USM the lead at 5-4. It only continued to get better from there, as an RBI single by Jake Cook made it six, before Matthew Russo struck once again with an RBI double of his own. Nick Monistere picked up a double of his own to make it nine. Carson Paetow struck once again, with a two-run shot that was the finishing touches to a comeback victory and the series win for the Golden Eagles.

Game 3: Southern Miss - 1 Old Dominion - 4

Although the Golden Eagles picked up the series win on Saturday night, Sunday was a different story. Old Dominion started the scoring off in the 3rd, as a sac-fly RBI got the Monarchs on the board first. The Monarchs struck again thanks to a RBI triple which put Old Dominion up 2-0. Southern Miss wasn't able to get much going throughout the 3rd game due to Old Dominion’s pitching. Blake Morgan of Old Dominion pitched a great game where his final statline ended with 7.0 Innings Pitched, 6 Hits, 1 Earned Run, and 6 strikeouts. His day came to an end following a Drey Barrett home run. Despite getting a run back, Old Dominion picked up a RBI single in the top of the 9th to make it a 4-1 game. The Golden Eagles had a chance to create more Pete Taylor Park Magic in the bottom of 9th with a bases loaded situation, but ended up grounding out which marked the end to the weekend, and saw Southern Miss suffer their first Sun Belt conference loss.

Southern Miss are now set to head on the road as next Tuesday, the Golden Eagles face off against Ole Miss again. The last time the two teams met was in Oxford where Ole Miss won 15-8. Southern Miss hopes to avenge that early season loss in Pearl.