Under the bright Southern Mississippi lights at Pete Taylor Park, the Golden Eagles of Southern Miss welcomed the Mississippi State Bulldogs to Hattiesburg for an early midweek game between two bitter rivals.

Often overlooked in discussions about baseball in Mississippi, Southern Miss welcomed the Bulldogs with open arms for an early-season opportunity to showcase the Golden Eagles’ potential to be a legitimate contender to reach the College World Series for the first time since 2009. Not to mention, an opportunity to earn a victory over an instate Southeastern Conference opponent at your home ballpark is always unique and often a memory that transcends the generations to come.

Southern Miss jumped out early on Mississippi State with a one-run first inning and two in the second. Highlighted by a solo home run from Joey Urban, making 3-0 Golden Eagles over the Bulldogs at the end of the second. Joey Urban continued to etch his name into the folklore of this rivalry as he finished the day 3-3 with a home run, a double, and a base hit.

On Tuesday night, three runs were all Southern Miss needed to take down the 18th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs to earn a massive statement in-state rivalry win. Credit is primarily due to the Golden Eagles’ pitching staff on Tuesday night, who dominated Mississippi State. As a unit, Southern Miss struck out ten Mississippi State batters. The Southern Miss pitching unit only gave up one walk all night—just an overall dominating pitching performance from Southern Miss against Mississippi State. Coach Ostrander got a solid start from Colby Allen, who gave the Golden Eagles four innings, striking out five, with one walk and no hits, earning himself his first win.

For Mississippi State, the Bulldogs ran into an absolute buzz saw on Tuesday night as they failed to generate any offense against the overpowering Southern Miss pitching staff. Charlie Foster got the start for the Bulldogs on Tuesday night; struggling to find his groove after giving up three runs in two innings, the Bulldogs had dug too deep of a hole to overcome.

With the loss, Mississippi State falls to 3-1 overall on the season and will return to Dudy Noble on Friday for a three-game series against Missouri State.

With the 3-0 win over Mississippi State, Southern Miss improves to 5-0 on the season and will welcome the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech to Pete Taylor Park for a three-game series starting Friday afternoon.

Photo Credits – Mississippi State and Southern Miss Baseball on X