HATTIESBURG, Miss. – After not qualifying for an NCAA Regional for 14 seasons, Little Rock has now earned its second straight berth and made school history in the process.
The Trojans surprised the league by winning the OVC Tournament last season as the No. 8 seed, capturing five wins in four days to advance to the Baton Rouge Regional. Little Rock then gained national attention by defeating nationally ranked Dallas Baptist and LSU on the same day to force a winner-take-all regional final against the Tigers. LSU eventually advanced on its way to a national championship, but not before the Trojans earned widespread respect across college baseball.
This season, the path looked different.
Little Rock entered the OVC Tournament as the No. 4 seed, and after dropping a winner's bracket game to SIUE, battled all the way back through the elimination bracket by winning five games in four days, including victories over No. 2 seed Eastern Illinois on consecutive days.
Now, Little Rock must navigate one of the toughest regionals in the NCAA Tournament field. The Trojans open play against host University of Southern Mississippi at 1 p.m. Friday at Pete Taylor Park.
Southern Miss enters the regional ranked No. 12 in the RPI. No. 2 seed University of Virginia is No. 26, while No. 3 seed Jacksonville State University is No. 25.
After qualifying for back-to-back regionals for the first time in school history, Little Rock is looking to take the next step and advance to a Super Regional for the first time in program history.
SERIES HISTORY
• Southern Miss leads the series 11-6.
• Little Rock won the last meeting, 5-1, on March 8, 2020, just before the season ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The teams had not met prior to that game since 1997.
COACH SPEAK
"We feel very confident. What I like is there is no panic," Little Rock head coach Chris Curry said. "There hasn't been panic, and there won't be panic."
TROJAN TIDBITS
• The seven games Little Rock played in the OVC Tournament tied a record by former OVC member Jacksonville State, which is also playing in the Hattiesburg Regional.
• Little Rock's tournament victory over SIUE on Saturday broke the school record for wins in a season. The previous mark of 33 was set by the 1990 and 2000 teams.
• Little Rock's championship win Sunday over Eastern Illinois marked Chris Curry's 300th career victory. Earlier this spring, Curry became Little Rock's all-time winningest coach.
• Little Rock redshirt freshman pitcher Tag Andrews pitched in four OVC Tournament games to earn MVP honors. The All-OVC Second Team and All-Freshman selection went 2-0 with two saves, pitching 8.1 innings while allowing five hits and striking out 10.
• Nico Baumbach, in his second stint at Little Rock, is one hit away from 200 for his Trojan career. His 26 Little Rock home runs are also four shy of the school career record. Baumbach earned OVC All-Tournament Team honors after batting .500 with eight RBI.
• Curry played junior college baseball at Meridian Community College under Scott Berry. Berry served as an assistant under the late Corky Palmer before succeeding him as head coach at Southern Miss. Palmer guided Southern Miss to the College World Series in his final season and was named Conference USA Coach of the Year in 2003.
After assisting Palmer at Southern Miss, Berry eventually succeeded him and compiled a 528-276-1 record from 2010-23, leading the Golden Eagles to multiple conference championships and NCAA appearances.
Curry said Monday he received a congratulatory text from his former coach and planned to have breakfast with him while in Hattiesburg.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
• Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander is 134-51 in three seasons at USM.
• This marks the 22nd NCAA Regional appearance in school history for Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles have won three regionals, most recently in 2023.
• Southern Miss won the rugged Sun Belt Conference regular-season title by one game over Coastal Carolina University. Multiple Sun Belt teams spent time ranked nationally during the season.
• USM has won 13 of its last 14 games. The Golden Eagles' only loss during that stretch was a 7-6 defeat to Troy University in the Sun Belt Tournament last Friday. Their previous loss before that came April 22 at Tulane University.
• Southern Miss ranked third in the Sun Belt in batting average at .287.
• Six Southern Miss players hit above .300, led by Matthew Russo at .317. Russo also leads the team with 56 RBI and has been hit by a pitch 23 times.
• Four Golden Eagles have hit double-digit home runs, led by Kyle Morrison with 16.
• Southern Miss led the Sun Belt in team ERA at 3.75, which ranks seventh nationally.
• Staff ace Grayden Harris is 8-1 with a 3.20 ERA and 100 strikeouts.
• Reliever Colby Allen is 7-1 with a 2.57 ERA and two saves.
• Camden Clark has five saves while appearing in 22 games with six starts and a 2.88 ERA.
