Our Golden Eagle Baseball team may be about to burst (back) into national attention, due to their entire season, but in particular the last 4 weeks, when they have won 14 games in a row, and won an outright conference title, to finish the regular season 44-12 overall, and 25-5 in the conference. Yesterday morning, one college baseball web page published an excellent summary of where the Golden Eagles are, how they got here and where they may be going:
"Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles are simply on fire. They scored 30 runs in a doubleheader sweep at UTSA on Friday, winning 15-1 and 15-9. Leadoff man Dylan Burdeaux led the way, going 8-for-10 with five runs and five RBIs in the two games. Burdeaux and fellow stars Taylor Braley and Matt Wallner each homered in both games of the twin bill. Southern Miss already clinched the Conference USA regular-season title last week, but now it has stretched its winning streak to 14 games and climbed to No. 10 in the RPI. A 9-6 record against the top 50 is still a little light compared with some other national seed contenders, but Southern Miss might make up for it with momentum — a 14-game winning streak at this stage in the season is loud. And a 22-10 record against the top 100 is solid. If the Eagles keep it rolling into next week and make a deep run in the C-USA tournament, don’t be surprised if they elbow their way into national seed position."
Link to that article: https://d1baseball.com/roundup/d1-digest-friday-may-19/
This kind of publicity and possibility is why I thought it so important to make an effort to sweep the doubleheader on Friday. But Coach Berry knew something I didn't: the Golden Eagles did not need their best pitching to win that second game (15-9).
THE 2017 REGULAR SEASON BY THE NUMBERS.
As a result of their overall season and recent streak, the Golden Eagles put up numbers during their now-complete regular season that cannot be denied.
The Golden Eagles won C-USA by 6 games over Old Dominion. That is tied for the second-largest gap between 1st and 2nd in conference history, with USM's 2nd-place finish 6 games behind Rice in 2008.
Southern Miss currently has the second most wins in the country (44), the longest winning streak in the country (14) and the third-best road record in the country (17-5).
The Golden Eagles are second in the country in runs per game (8.7) and first in scoring margin (+4.1).
Looking at more traditional numbers, the Golden Eagles are in or just outside the top 5 (out of 295 teams) in home runs (78), on-base percentage (.420) and slugging percentage (.509).
The Golden Eagles are in or just outside the top 10 in batting average (.316) and doubles (125).
They are top 25 in being hit by a pitch (72 times taking one for the team), strikeout-to-walk (pitched) ratio (2.76) and strikeouts (thrown) per 9 innings (9.1).
They are top 50 in double plays turned (47), fielding percentage (.975), shut-outs pitched (5), stolen bases (74 in 94 attempts) and triples (15).
They are top 75 in ERA (4.07) (especially significant considering we had to replace 4 out of our top 6 pitchers from last year, in terms of innings pitched), sacrifice bunts (37) and WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) (1.34).
Finally, they are top 100 in sacrifice flies (22). The Golden Eagles are, essentially, ranked in the top 100 (out of 295) in each of the 17 distinct national ranking categories, including the top 25 in eight categories, and top 50 in 5 more. USM is also ranked 1st in the conference in most of those categories.
THE 2017 REGULAR SEASON: INDIVIDUAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
Not surprisingly, many individual Golden Eagles have also excelled nationally. As of last week, the Golden Eagles had 14 different players ranked in at least one category in the national rankings, led by Dylan Burdeaux (nationally-ranked in 12 categories), Taylor Braley (9), Matt Wallner (9), Kirk McCarty (8), Mason Irby (7), and Hunter Slater (6). Among Golden Eagle hitters, every player who has started more than half of USM's games is nationally-ranked in at least 2 categories.
Most notably, Burdeaux is 1st in the country in hits (96), Braley is 4th in the country in walks drawn and Burdeaux is top 10 in RBIs (66) and runs scored (61). Braley is in the top 20 in on-base percentage (.479), Wallner is top 20 in the country and second among freshmen in slugging percentage (.680) and Burdeaux is top 20 in doubles (22). Wallner is also in the top 25 in the country and leads all freshmen in homers (17). Finally, although this is not a tracked category, it is a significant indicator of the Golden Eagles' offensive prowess: Burdeaux leads the country in at bats by a significant margin, with 261 (and he's gotten on base 34 more times via BB or HBP).
As a result of their individual efforts, Nick Sandlin was named to one of 40 spots on the Midseason Watch List for the 13th annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award. Burdeaux has been named one of 25 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, given to the top player in college baseball. Burdeaux, Braley and Wallner have been named as three of the five finalists for the C Spire Ferriss Trophy, given to the Most Outstanding college baseball player in Mississippi each year. Wallner has been invited to attend the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp this summer. More individual awards and recognitions will follow.
THE 2017 GOLDEN EAGLES: HOW GOOD ARE THEY?
Simply put, this Southern Miss Baseball team has enjoyed the best regular season ever by the Golden Eagles. Their 44 wins shatter the former regular season record of 41 (set in 2003), and their 25 conference wins top their former record of 23 (2003), tying the conference record (set by ECU in 2004). While the Golden Eagles have had more imposing pitching staffs, and somewhat tidier defenses, both the pitching and defense rank among the Golden Eagles' best ever, as set out above.
And consider the Golden Eagles offense. Based on pure numbers and national rankings as set out above, and a couple of unique circumstances, there is a strong argument that this is the best Golden Eagles' offense ever, edging out those great teams of 1994, '97, 2003-06, and 2010.
(A useful tool for additional comparison, besides the yearly national rankings, are the national averages for those past seasons: http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/baseball_RB/reports/TrendsYBY.pdf.).
All 14 Golden Eagles who have batted this season have at least one home run. Twelve of them have two or more. Four of them have ten or more. The Golden Eagles' shortstop and season-long #9 hitter, LeMarcus Boyd, has 39 RBIs. He's not stealing RBIs from the top of the order either, because Dylan Burdeaux is in the top 10 in the country with 66 RBIs leading off for the Eagles. And for the first time since Hill Denson took over the Eagles and had to find a way to manufacture runs from 1984 through 1997, the 2017 Golden Eagles are nationally-ranked in stolen bases. As observed above, that all adds up to the No. 1 scoring margin in the country, as the Golden Eagles on average win all games by 4.1 runs.
That poses the big question: could this be the best Southern Miss Baseball team ever? Through 56 games, it clearly was.
The numbers put up by the Golden Eagles are reflected in the baseball computer rankings. In the most publicized computer rankings, the Golden Eagles are now 3rd (Nolan's NPI), 4th (ELO Chess, Nolan), and 8th (Boyd's ISR) in the nation. The Eagles are also 6th in Massey's ratings (which credit USM with an extra win for some reason), and 7th in the (last week's) Sagarin ratings.
In the faulty but all-important RPI, Southern Miss has rocketed up to 10th from 34th over the last four weeks, according to Warren Nolan and Boyd's World.
Following last week's 3-0 week, running their winning streak to 10 and clinching the C-USA title, the Golden Eagles moved up a few places in the major polls. Their ranking rose from 21 to 17 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30, from 19 to 18 in the Baseball America Top 25, from 21 to 17 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 30, from 21 to 17 in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches Top 25, and from 22 to 15 in the d1baseball.com Top 25. In sum, USM moved up about 4 spots, from an average ranking of about 21 to about 17, after last week.
After the 4-0 week just concluded, all away from home, the Golden Eagles look to take another major step up in the polls on Monday. How high?
I would argue that, based on their season, and their current form, the Golden Eagles should be ranked in the top ten. Of course, polls can be overly static, as pollsters often decline to move a deserving team over another team, unless the higher-ranked team has a poor week. Happily for Southern Miss, several higher-ranked teams suffered poor weeks this week. USM won't and probably shouldn't get moved over Louisville (0-3 week). It would be justifiable not to demote Kentucky for losing a series at Florida. The Golden Eagles should, however, be moved above Miss.State (1-3), Missouri State (1-1, bad loss), Clemson (2-2) and Kent State (1-2). The Golden Eagles should also be moved up over Long Beach State (RPI 21), which appears to be somewhat overrated by the pollsters.
In sum, the Golden Eagles should move up about 5 places, on average, to an average ranking of about 12th. In the polls preceding and following the 2009 College World Series, USM was ranked 8th by Collegiate Baseball. But their rankings tomorrow should close in on what would appear to have been the highest previous regular season ranking for the Eagles, 11th during the 2004 season. In sum, this has been one of the greatest regular seasons in the history of Southern Miss Athletics.
"Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles are simply on fire. They scored 30 runs in a doubleheader sweep at UTSA on Friday, winning 15-1 and 15-9. Leadoff man Dylan Burdeaux led the way, going 8-for-10 with five runs and five RBIs in the two games. Burdeaux and fellow stars Taylor Braley and Matt Wallner each homered in both games of the twin bill. Southern Miss already clinched the Conference USA regular-season title last week, but now it has stretched its winning streak to 14 games and climbed to No. 10 in the RPI. A 9-6 record against the top 50 is still a little light compared with some other national seed contenders, but Southern Miss might make up for it with momentum — a 14-game winning streak at this stage in the season is loud. And a 22-10 record against the top 100 is solid. If the Eagles keep it rolling into next week and make a deep run in the C-USA tournament, don’t be surprised if they elbow their way into national seed position."
Link to that article: https://d1baseball.com/roundup/d1-digest-friday-may-19/
This kind of publicity and possibility is why I thought it so important to make an effort to sweep the doubleheader on Friday. But Coach Berry knew something I didn't: the Golden Eagles did not need their best pitching to win that second game (15-9).
THE 2017 REGULAR SEASON BY THE NUMBERS.
As a result of their overall season and recent streak, the Golden Eagles put up numbers during their now-complete regular season that cannot be denied.
The Golden Eagles won C-USA by 6 games over Old Dominion. That is tied for the second-largest gap between 1st and 2nd in conference history, with USM's 2nd-place finish 6 games behind Rice in 2008.
Southern Miss currently has the second most wins in the country (44), the longest winning streak in the country (14) and the third-best road record in the country (17-5).
The Golden Eagles are second in the country in runs per game (8.7) and first in scoring margin (+4.1).
Looking at more traditional numbers, the Golden Eagles are in or just outside the top 5 (out of 295 teams) in home runs (78), on-base percentage (.420) and slugging percentage (.509).
The Golden Eagles are in or just outside the top 10 in batting average (.316) and doubles (125).
They are top 25 in being hit by a pitch (72 times taking one for the team), strikeout-to-walk (pitched) ratio (2.76) and strikeouts (thrown) per 9 innings (9.1).
They are top 50 in double plays turned (47), fielding percentage (.975), shut-outs pitched (5), stolen bases (74 in 94 attempts) and triples (15).
They are top 75 in ERA (4.07) (especially significant considering we had to replace 4 out of our top 6 pitchers from last year, in terms of innings pitched), sacrifice bunts (37) and WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) (1.34).
Finally, they are top 100 in sacrifice flies (22). The Golden Eagles are, essentially, ranked in the top 100 (out of 295) in each of the 17 distinct national ranking categories, including the top 25 in eight categories, and top 50 in 5 more. USM is also ranked 1st in the conference in most of those categories.
THE 2017 REGULAR SEASON: INDIVIDUAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
Not surprisingly, many individual Golden Eagles have also excelled nationally. As of last week, the Golden Eagles had 14 different players ranked in at least one category in the national rankings, led by Dylan Burdeaux (nationally-ranked in 12 categories), Taylor Braley (9), Matt Wallner (9), Kirk McCarty (8), Mason Irby (7), and Hunter Slater (6). Among Golden Eagle hitters, every player who has started more than half of USM's games is nationally-ranked in at least 2 categories.
Most notably, Burdeaux is 1st in the country in hits (96), Braley is 4th in the country in walks drawn and Burdeaux is top 10 in RBIs (66) and runs scored (61). Braley is in the top 20 in on-base percentage (.479), Wallner is top 20 in the country and second among freshmen in slugging percentage (.680) and Burdeaux is top 20 in doubles (22). Wallner is also in the top 25 in the country and leads all freshmen in homers (17). Finally, although this is not a tracked category, it is a significant indicator of the Golden Eagles' offensive prowess: Burdeaux leads the country in at bats by a significant margin, with 261 (and he's gotten on base 34 more times via BB or HBP).
As a result of their individual efforts, Nick Sandlin was named to one of 40 spots on the Midseason Watch List for the 13th annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award. Burdeaux has been named one of 25 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, given to the top player in college baseball. Burdeaux, Braley and Wallner have been named as three of the five finalists for the C Spire Ferriss Trophy, given to the Most Outstanding college baseball player in Mississippi each year. Wallner has been invited to attend the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp this summer. More individual awards and recognitions will follow.
THE 2017 GOLDEN EAGLES: HOW GOOD ARE THEY?
Simply put, this Southern Miss Baseball team has enjoyed the best regular season ever by the Golden Eagles. Their 44 wins shatter the former regular season record of 41 (set in 2003), and their 25 conference wins top their former record of 23 (2003), tying the conference record (set by ECU in 2004). While the Golden Eagles have had more imposing pitching staffs, and somewhat tidier defenses, both the pitching and defense rank among the Golden Eagles' best ever, as set out above.
And consider the Golden Eagles offense. Based on pure numbers and national rankings as set out above, and a couple of unique circumstances, there is a strong argument that this is the best Golden Eagles' offense ever, edging out those great teams of 1994, '97, 2003-06, and 2010.
(A useful tool for additional comparison, besides the yearly national rankings, are the national averages for those past seasons: http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/baseball_RB/reports/TrendsYBY.pdf.).
All 14 Golden Eagles who have batted this season have at least one home run. Twelve of them have two or more. Four of them have ten or more. The Golden Eagles' shortstop and season-long #9 hitter, LeMarcus Boyd, has 39 RBIs. He's not stealing RBIs from the top of the order either, because Dylan Burdeaux is in the top 10 in the country with 66 RBIs leading off for the Eagles. And for the first time since Hill Denson took over the Eagles and had to find a way to manufacture runs from 1984 through 1997, the 2017 Golden Eagles are nationally-ranked in stolen bases. As observed above, that all adds up to the No. 1 scoring margin in the country, as the Golden Eagles on average win all games by 4.1 runs.
That poses the big question: could this be the best Southern Miss Baseball team ever? Through 56 games, it clearly was.
The numbers put up by the Golden Eagles are reflected in the baseball computer rankings. In the most publicized computer rankings, the Golden Eagles are now 3rd (Nolan's NPI), 4th (ELO Chess, Nolan), and 8th (Boyd's ISR) in the nation. The Eagles are also 6th in Massey's ratings (which credit USM with an extra win for some reason), and 7th in the (last week's) Sagarin ratings.
In the faulty but all-important RPI, Southern Miss has rocketed up to 10th from 34th over the last four weeks, according to Warren Nolan and Boyd's World.
Following last week's 3-0 week, running their winning streak to 10 and clinching the C-USA title, the Golden Eagles moved up a few places in the major polls. Their ranking rose from 21 to 17 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30, from 19 to 18 in the Baseball America Top 25, from 21 to 17 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 30, from 21 to 17 in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches Top 25, and from 22 to 15 in the d1baseball.com Top 25. In sum, USM moved up about 4 spots, from an average ranking of about 21 to about 17, after last week.
After the 4-0 week just concluded, all away from home, the Golden Eagles look to take another major step up in the polls on Monday. How high?
I would argue that, based on their season, and their current form, the Golden Eagles should be ranked in the top ten. Of course, polls can be overly static, as pollsters often decline to move a deserving team over another team, unless the higher-ranked team has a poor week. Happily for Southern Miss, several higher-ranked teams suffered poor weeks this week. USM won't and probably shouldn't get moved over Louisville (0-3 week). It would be justifiable not to demote Kentucky for losing a series at Florida. The Golden Eagles should, however, be moved above Miss.State (1-3), Missouri State (1-1, bad loss), Clemson (2-2) and Kent State (1-2). The Golden Eagles should also be moved up over Long Beach State (RPI 21), which appears to be somewhat overrated by the pollsters.
In sum, the Golden Eagles should move up about 5 places, on average, to an average ranking of about 12th. In the polls preceding and following the 2009 College World Series, USM was ranked 8th by Collegiate Baseball. But their rankings tomorrow should close in on what would appear to have been the highest previous regular season ranking for the Eagles, 11th during the 2004 season. In sum, this has been one of the greatest regular seasons in the history of Southern Miss Athletics.
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