HATTIESBURG, Miss. — For the second-straight season, Southern Miss concluded its campaign in the Hattiesburg Super Regional on its home field.
The Sun Belt tournament champion Golden Eagles—one of four Sun Belt teams to appear in the NCAA baseball postseason this year—finished 46-20 after dropping a decisive Game 3 to Tennessee, 5-0. The game capped a legendary career for Southern Miss head coach Scott Berry, who led the Golden Eagles to seven-straight 40-win seasons, seven-straight NCAA Baseball Regionals and back-to-back NCAA Super Regionals at Pete Taylor Park.
The Sun Belt was 1-of-5 conferences with four-or-more teams in the NCAA field, joining the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12, and was also 1-of-5 to produce a Super Regional team in both NCAA baseball and softball.
A single through the right side by graduate student designated hitter Griffin Merritt plated the first run of the contest for Tennessee in the bottom of the second. Merritt was the third-straight Volunteer to reach base in the frame, following a leadoff single by sophomore second baseman Christian Moore and a walk by senior third baseman Zane Denton.
Southern Miss sophomore right-handed pitcher Niko Mazza retired the next three Tennessee batters to limit the damage—and escaped a jam in the bottom of the third, again stranding a pair of Volunteers.
The Golden Eagles offense had one hit in each of the first four frames, but left six men on base over the stretch and 11 in the game.
Tennessee sophomore right-handed pitcher Drew Beam worked a 1-2-3 inning in the top half of the fifth—his first clean frame of the contest—before the Volunteers extended their lead to 4-0 via a three-run blast to center off the bat of Denton.
Back-to-back singles to lead off the top of the seventh by sophomore outfielder Carson Paetow and junior catcher Rodrigo Montenegro chased Beam—who struck out seven over 6.0 innings pitched. With runners at the corners and no one out, Tennessee turned to redshirt sophomore right-handed pitcher Aaron Combs—who struck out Southern Miss junior outfielder Matthew Etzel on four pitches—and then sophomore right-handed pitcher Chase Burns—who needed seven pitches to strike out junior shortstop Dustin Dickerson and junior designated hitter Slade Wilks—to neutralize the Golden Eagle threat.
A solo homer to left center by junior shortstop Maui Ahuna tacked on a fifth run for Tennessee in the bottom of the seventh.
Burns posted a 1-2-3 eighth and worked around a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth to close out the victory for the Volunteers.