The Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles boys of summer are on a roll. The Eagles, who are back in the Top 25, stretched the nation’s longest winning streak to 13 games by sweeping Louisiana-Monroe. Southern Miss (35-15, 20-7) has not lost since April 23 and since that time has outscored their opponents 122-55. The Scott Berry nine are tied with Coastal Carolina for the top spot in the Sun Belt standings entering the final weekend of regular season play. The Golden Eagles will host third place Louisiana-Lafayette beginning on Thursday at Pete Taylor Park. Coastal Carolina will play host to last place Marshall.
Bobby Halford and the William Carey Crusaders baseball team will host the NAIA Regionals beginning this week in Hattiesburg. The Crusaders (44-9) will host Texas Wesleyan; Ave Maria, Fla.; Union, Ky.; and Houston-Victoria in one of the ten NAIA Regionals. The winner advances to the World Series in Lewiston, Idaho. The Crusaders were ranked No. 8 in the final NAIA coaches poll. Halford in his 38th season leading the team was named the Southern States Athletic Conference Coach of the Year while Andrew Shirah was the SSACC Pitcher of the Year and R.J. Stinson was named the SSACC Player of the Year.
Ole Miss (25-26, 6-21) lost to Auburn and will now head to Tuscaloosa to end their disappointing season. The Rebels have not had a losing season since 1997 and under Bianco has never had a losing season. The Rebels, under Bianco, have not made the SEC Tournament only three other times, the last time in 2017.
Mississippi State (26-24, 8-19) won the final two games of their three-game series at LSU. The Bulldogs trailed No. 2 LSU by nine runs in the sixth inning to win 14-13 in ten innings on Sunday. The Bulldogs beginning on Thursday will host Texas A&M in their final regular season games.
State JUCO baseball champion East Central will join host Eunice (La.), Meridian, Pearl River, Itawamba and Northeast this week in the Region 23 Tournament. The winner will advance to the World Series.
The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum will present the Ferris Trophy, named for legendary Delta State coach David “Boo” Ferris on Monday, May 22, at the Golden Moon Casino at Pearl River Resort. The finalist is selected by a panel of coaches and professional scouts. The year’s finalists are Kemp Alderman of Ole Miss, Tanner Hall of USM, Ty Hill of JSU, Hunter Hines of MSU and Slade Wilks of USM. Tickets for the event must be purchased online at www.msfame.com or by calling the Hall of Fame office at 601-982-8264.
Ole Miss softball is going to the NCAA Tournament along with 11 other SEC teams beginning on Friday. The Lady Rebels (30-26) will join Utah, Southern Illinois and Baylor in Utah. Belhaven softball (29-11) will take part in the NCAA Division III Regional beginning on Thursday. The Mississippi College softball season was the most successful in program history. The Choctaws' (43-12) season came to an end in Tampa in the NCAA D-II regionals. State champion Jones and runner-up Co-Lin softball begin play in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in the JUCO World Series this week. The MHSAA state softball tournaments will be hosted by USM this week in Hattiesburg. Six new state champs will be crowned in Classes 1-6A.
Odds & Ends
Former Mississippi State football coach Jackie Sherrill was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Southern Miss football will be the recipient of a new turf this month while Reed-Green Coliseum will begin a $20 million refurbishing in the fall.
Mississippi State’s men’s tennis team season came to a halt as they fell to No. 2 TCU in the Round of 16 at the NCAA Championships. No. 18 MSU men’s golf team will head to California this week for a 13-team regional with the hope of landing in the top 5 for a chance to move on to the NCAA Championship.
Listen to Dale and Marshall Wood on the Brouhaha Sports Show that will be aired this Tuesday at 6 p.m. on WABO FM 105.5 in the Waynesboro area. This week’s guest will be William Carey baseball coach Bobby Halford. To listen to the broadcast on your computer or smart phone anywhere in the world, go to Google Chrome, go to wabo105.com and click listen live. You may also go to The Brouhaha on YouTube to listen to archived shows. Dale has been writing sports since 1973. Contact Dale at ddmckee18@yahoo.com
