Southern Miss ties program-best 14-game winning streak

The Southern Miss baseball team is taking that whole ‘to the top’ thing quite literally.

After sweeping Rice at Pete Taylor Park over the weekend, the Golden Eagles have tied the longest winning streak in program history at 14 games.

Sunday’s 12-2 win over the Owls served as the exclamation point in the form of a seventh inning 10-run rule walk-off grand slam courtesy of Vancleave alum Carson Paetow and his first career four RBI swing at USM.

The former Bulldog is swinging a red-hot bat, currently second on the team in slugging percentage and third with nine homers and 30 RBI.

Overall, the Black and Gold are doing it with pitching, ranking second in the country behind top-ranked Tennessee in ERA, whip, and strikeout to walk ratio.

After a 5-0 week, Southern Miss rewarded in the polls once again, jumping up to as high as number three in the nation according to Perfect Game.

USM checking in at number four by D1baseball.com, number five by the USA Today Coaches Poll, number six by Baseball America, and number eight by Collegiate Baseball.

Friday night starter Tanner Hall earning C-USA Pitcher of the Week honors after throwing eight scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts.

Three straight conference series sweeps for USM and then Mississippi State, sixth straight series win over rival Ole Miss, 18 out of the last 22 games, Bulldogs taking two out of three from the Rebels in Oxford.