C-USA Tournament Preview: Southern Miss

The Golden Eagles were supposed to take batting practice in Biloxi today, but instead they decided to stay in Hattiesburg due to weather concerns.

Either way, USM heads into tournament play as the number one seed for the second year in a row after dropping a 5-4 decision to Rice on championship Sunday in 2017.

Now, much like those 4A state champion Vancleave Bulldogs, the Black and Gold are doing just that with their hair for their upcoming tournament run. Southern Miss third baseman Luke Reynolds said, “I don’t know, I don’t remember who came up with the idea. But I didn’t want to do my hair, so I just did my beard. But I think it’s just a little new mojo going on, going into the postseason. A little something new just to get us all energized and ready to go, so I think it’ll be a good thing.”

Southern Miss second baseman Matthew Guidry said, “Team little bonding session on the way back from West Virginia in the airport and we were like oh, we might as well do something. Hadn’t been playing that well, so we need to do something to maybe kickstart a good postseason run. So just decided to go ahead and get a little color into it, hope it looks good.”

Throughout the week, Southern Miss will be gunning for its second tournament championship in the last three years.

On the eve of tournament play, Southern Miss has some more post-season accolades to write home about in the form of Conference USA individual awards. Luke Reynolds is the first player in league history to win both player of the year and newcomer of the year as a transfer from Mississippi State that leads C-USA in seven categories.

Then one day after winning the Ferriss Trophy Nick Sandlin takes home pitcher of the year while head man Scott Berry has been tabbed as coach of the year.

The Golden Eagles were 39-15 in the regular season under his watch, claiming their second straight regular season crown.