Southern Miss baseball team falls short in Knoxville Regional. Golden Eagles end 2024 campaign with an overall record of 43-20.

At the start of 2024 season, some called it a rebuilding year for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, but those words never came out of the mouth of first-year Head Coach Christian Ostrander, who never had any doubt about his ball club. This past weekend, and the entire season, the Southern Miss baseball team proved time and time again that they lived up to that Golden Eagle standard. 

The Golden Eagles fell just short Sunday night in the Regional Championship hosted by the number one overall seed, the Tennessee Volunteers, and it was not easy getting there, either. Southern Miss dropped game one to the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday with a final score of 10-4 which immediately put them in the losers bracket.

The Southern Miss grit continued to prevail, and the black and gold would go on to win nine straight regional elimination games defeating Northern Kentucky 6-0 on Saturday, and taking the rematch over the Hoosiers in fashion, with a final score of 15 to 3 on Sunday.

Although those two wins led to a loss against the Volunteers Sunday night with a final score 3 to 12, the Golden Eagles have nothing to hang their heads about when thinking about their 2024 postseason campaign.

Members of the Southern Miss program who were selected to the Knoxville Regional Tournament team include Ozzie Pratt who continued to show out at shortstop and at the plate all year long, Niko Mazza who threw a beautiful complete game two for the Eagles, and the Captain Slade Wilks, who ended his career as one of the best to wear the Golden Eagle uniform and continued his 36-game hitting streak.

The Southern Miss baseball program is ending their season as back-to-back Sun Belt tournament champions with an overall record of 43-20, which is the eighth straight season with at least forty wins, and the most wins by any first-year head coach in Christian Ostrander. If this was a so-called “rebuilding year” for the Eagle program, imagine what the year 2025 will hold.