Raindrops turned into teardrops on the soaked turf field in the late hours of Monday night at Pete Taylor Park.
For the second straight season, Southern Miss' postseason run ended by being shutout in super regional as the Golden Eagles fell short to Tennessee 5-0.
"It's always hard to get back right where we are, and I think that's what's so special about Southern Miss and the tradition that we have," Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. "We pride ourselves on tradition because tradition is consistency. We have been to seven straight regionals now, and that's pretty consistent. We've been to super regionals now that we hosted and have laid the groundwork for consistency there. It's tough to come back. For the guys that return next year, it'll be on them to carry them forward.
"What sets this team apart from the other (USM teams) is the others never got to repeat back into a super. That's pretty good pressure."
THE GAME
Ultimately, the difference in the final game of the Super Regional series was timely hitting as the Golden Eagles outhit Tennessee 7-6 and left at least two runners on base in four different innings.
By the end of the game, Southern Miss left 11 runners on base, struck out 12 times and drew only two walks. For the Vols, starting pitcher Drew Beam gave up seven hits, struck out seven and issued one walk.
"The walks weren't there," said Danny Lynch on Tennessee's pitching. "Beam had really good stuff, and he was in the zone. When you have really good stuff, you aren't getting the freebies. It's going to be tough to score, and you have to string together a bunch of hits. We weren't able to do that. (reliver Chase) Burns came in, and he has electric stuff."
On the mound the Golden Eagles were given a strong start on the mound by Niko Mazza, who up until the fifth inning only blemish was an RBI single that was a ground ball that got past the right side of the infield.
Heading into the fifth inning, Mazza stranded five UT runners, but after having thrown over 90 pitches, the right-hander's most costly mistake was a 3-run homer with two outs to give the Vols a 4-0 lead. By the end of his outing, Mazza threw a career-high of 101 pitches, recorded five strikeouts, four walks and allowed four runs off five hits.
Later in the seventh inning, reliever Matt Adams gave up a solo home run that extended Tennessee's lead to 5-0.
In the sixth inning, the Vols' close Chase Burns kept USM's hitters off the base paths until the ninth, with the Golden Eagles managing to draw a leadoff walk.
"I thought Beam, as far as starters, had the best stuff of the three," Berry said. "I thought Beam was really good. The biggest thing was that the freebies weren't there to build momentum for us. We couldn't string hits together. That's a credit to them for not letting us have any momentum. We had to work to get on with base hits.
"It was very elite pitching. We knew that going in. The numbers indicated that…They really just never gave us any chance for any momentum."
The ACCOLADES
With a 46-20 record, Southern Miss extended its streak of 40-win seasons for seven consecutive years, which is the longest active streak in all of Division I baseball.
In the first year in the Sun Belt Conference, the Golden Eagles won the tournament title, which was the first conference tournament victory since 2019. The victory also extended Southern Miss' streak of seven straight appearances in the NCAA tournament. The Golden Eagles' Super Regional appearance was the third in program history.
Pitcher Tanner Hall's memorable also likely comes to an end as he records numerous accolades this past season. Hall was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes this year, named the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year and received several First-Team All-American honors.
Danny Lynch and Dustin Dickerson were all-conference selections for the Sun Belt. Lynch also broke the school record for games played in his career at 267 and will return to USM next season as a graduate assistant.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Southern Miss will lose Lynch, Gabe Lacey, Christopher Sargent, Rodrigo Montenegro, Blake Johnson, Luke Trahan and Reece Ewing to graduation.
The Golden Eagles are expected to lose Tanner Hall, Slade Wilks, Justin Storm, and Matthew Etzel to the MLB draft. Dustin Dickerson and Matthew Adams are also expected to receive professional attention. Notably, Niko Mazza is also draft eligible.
Currently, Southern Miss has 15 players signed, consisting of 10 incoming freshmen and five junior college players. This includes Gabe Broadus (Pearl River CC), Landen Payne (Pearl River CC), Charlie Keller (MGCCC), Will Verdung (Itawamba CC), Sawyer Toney (Shelton State), Ty Durham (Bentonville West HS), Peyton Lacy (Pass Christian HS), McCarty English (Ocean Springs HS), Cal Culpepper (Clarkdale HS), TJ Dunsford (East Central HS), Jacob Keys (Brandon HS), Drake Meeks (Briarwood HS), Lawson Odom (West Jones HS), Seth Smith (Mobile Christian HS) and Josh Och (Chanhassen HS), who is the younger brother of former USM pitcher Ryan Och.
Southern Miss assistant coach Christian Ostrander will also be officially introduced as the Golden Eagles' head coach in a press conference later this summer.
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