Hattiesburg: Southern Miss bludgeons Miami to force Game 7
Southern Miss cruised past Miami to force a decisive Game Seven at the Hattiesburg Regional. Walter Villa offers some takeaways.
d1baseball.com

Southern Miss had plenty to celebrate Sunday night (Southern Miss Athletics)
by:
WALTER VILLAJun 2, 2025
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss got a hit on the first pitch of Sunday’s game, and you can consider that an omen.
The Golden Eagles scored nine runs
in that first inning and went on to crush the Miami Hurricanes 17-6 in what would’ve been an elimination game for Southern Miss.
Southern Miss DH Joey Urban was the hitting star, going 2-for-3 with two homers, two walks, five RBIs and three runs scored. Ironically, Urban is a South Florida native, and his walk-up song is …
Welcome to Miami.
Third-seeded Miami (33-25) and top-seeded Southern Miss (47-15) will meet again on Monday night. The winner advances to the super regionals. The loser is eliminated.
Here are five takeaways from the game:
1: INJURIES MOUNTING: Southern Miss nearly lost three players in its two games on Sunday.
In the first game, an 8-1 win that ended Columbia’s mighty-underdog season, Southern Miss shortstop and two-hole hitter Ozzie Pratt got hit in the jaw by a pitch.
“He had some dizziness, and we weren’t going to mess around with that,” Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said of pulling Pratt. “He went through concussion protocol, and, according to our trainers, everything checked out.
“If he feels good on Monday, we might see him out there.” In Sunday’s second game, third baseman Drey Barrett got hurt trying to beat out a bunt. “He thought he got hit by the ball,” Ostrander said. “He felt something wasn’t right with his hip. He tried to tough it out, but he couldn’t do it.”
Miami pitchers hit Southern Miss batters five times on Sunday. Miami reliever Michael Fernandez hit Southern Miss first baseman Matthew Russo twice, which is hard to fathom.
On the second HBP, Russo wes struck in the head area. Russo went down, left the game to be checked for a concussion and was allowed to return by rule.
“We dodged a bullet with Russo,” Ostrander said. “That was scary. “I ran out there, and I didn’t know what I was going to see. But I think it was enough of a glancing blow. “We’ll see (on Monday) how everybody is.”
2: ROUGH OUTING: Miami starter Tate DeRias was having an outstanding freshman season … until Sunday. He entered the day with a 3.98 ERA. But, by the end of the night, he. had a 5.86 ERA. That type of statistical movement is rarely seen for a starting pitcher this late in the season, but that’s how bad things were for Miami on Sunday.
In a DeRias nightmare half-inning that lasted 35 minutes, the rookie allowed seven hits, one walk, one hit batter and all nine runs. The big blows allowed by DeRias were four RBI singles, one two-run single and – on his last pitch of the night – a three-run homer to Urba.
3: DID HE WAIT TOO LONG? Miami coach J.D. Arteaga entered Monday with a rested bullpen by virtue of Griffin Hugus’ complete game on Saturday and because the Hurricanes played through the winner’s bracket.
Arteaga obviously didn’t want to give up that advantage by pulling DeRias when things got difficult.
Of course, as often happens with coaches, he left himself open to critics.
“The last thing you want is to take your starter out in the first inning,” Arteaga said. “You don’t want to be too quick and go through your whole staff.
“We were in a tough spot. (Southern Miss) had to beat us twice, and we had to make pitching decisions on who to use and who not to use.
“(DeRias’ velocity) was fine. His location – the pitches were down, but they were in the middle of the plate. We were hoping they hit the ball right at somebody, but it didn’t happen.”
Ostrander saw it slightly differently.
“(DeRias) had good stuff, but we just capitalized on some balls maybe up in the zone a little bit,” Ostrander said.
“We kind of punched him in the mouth, got some momentum, and it became contagious. Momentum can be very powerful.”
Arteaga summarized his predicament this way:
“It’s not how you draw it up,” he said of the nine-run barrage. “It’s tough to come back from that.”
4: A TALE OF TWO FRESHMEN: While DeRias had what was likely the worst performance of his life, Southern Miss freshman Camden “Sunny” Sunstrom had one of his best.
Sunstrom closed the game with 4 2/3 innings of stellar relief pitching, allowing just one run, none earned.
Southern Miss reliever Camden Sunstrom (USM Athletics)
A native of LSU’s backyard of Baton Rouge, Sunstrom seems like quite a character in terms of self-directed pep talks.
“My changeup is usually my go-to pitch,” Sunstrom said. “But I started talking to myself in the bullpen, and I said something that really clicked. I started to feel right.
“Once I got on the mound, everything started to come together. I just kept telling myself the same thing, and it worked out.”
5: WHO WANTS IT MORE?: Sunday marked the third time since 2021 that the Golden Eagles had battled back from the loser’s bracket to win two games on Day 3.
In two of those years – 2022 and 2023 – the Golden Eagles won the regional.
“I’m super proud of this group – that’s a long day of baseball,” Ostrander said late Sunday night. “You don’t do what (our players) did today without having some toughness and grit.
“Our guys know what’s at stake (on Monday). If we win, we will host a super regional. But it’s going to take an army.”
As for Miami, the only good news on the night was the fact that Arteaga was able to save his most trusted relievers – Brian Walters and Carson Fischer – for Monday’s game. They both should be able to pitch a couple innings as needed.
Also, Hurricanes starters AJ Ciscar and Griffin Hugus – who were pitching stars on Friday and Saturday, respectively, might be able to give Miami a couple of outs if it means keeping its season alive.
“There’s no script for a one-game playoff,” Arteaga said. “We will pick a starter, and if he is getting outs, he will stay out there.”
Added Arteaga: “We are 0-0 every morning when we wake up. We only look back to learn, and we only look forward to prepare.
“All that matters is the present.”