For three straight weekends prior to this one, No. 10 Southern Miss managed to escape with series wins despite giving its opponents several opportunities to win. After playing with fire for a fourth consecutive weekend, though, the Golden Eagles finally got burned badly, as they lost Sunday’s rubber match and the series to the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns at Russo Park in Lafayette.

The Golden Eagles (25-11, 8-7 Sun Belt) spent much of the weekend walking a tightrope, undone by the same issues that had lingered beneath the surface in recent series. Free passes proved especially costly in Sunday’s finale, including a bases-loaded walk that allowed Louisiana to push its lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning. That run proved to be the difference, as the Cajuns ultimately held on to win 6-5.

It’s Gut-Check Time for the Eags

Head coach Christian Ostrander, who was ejected in the game in the bottom of the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes with the umpire, has to be left wondering what has happened to his Golden Eagles team that started the year on fire with a 15-2 record and several wins over high-quality opponents. Southern Miss has gone just 10-9 since that point, despite still remaining fairly high in the national rankings.

With a big midweek game against Ole Miss in Pearl coming up on Tuesday, and a big weekend series at home against a very good Texas State team starting on Friday, it is officially gut-check time for the Golden Eagles. Hosting a regional is still not out of the question for this ballclub, but losing a second Sun Belt series certainly doesn’t help its case.

How the Rubber Match Loss Happened

The Golden Eagles had 10 hits on Sunday, with six of those coming from junior shortstop Seth Smith and senior outfielder Joey Urban (three each). Smith connected on his second home run of the year–a solo shot to right field in the top of the sixth to bring Southern Miss within 6-5.

In the top of the ninth, senior second baseman Kyle Morrison got on base from the lead-off spot with a walk, but junior outfielder Davis Gillespie, who had been on fire lately, cooled off in this one and hit into a double play on the very next at-bat. Senior first baseman Matthew Russo got the last chance to tie the game with two outs, but he grounded out to first base to end the game and the series. Overall, the Golden Eagles left nine runners on base.

Junior RHP Thomas Crabtree got the start for the Golden Eagles but only made it 1.2 innings before being replaced by senior LHP Kros Sivley. Sivley lasted one-third of an inning before being replaced by junior RHP Josh Och (L, 3-1), who pitched for 1.1 innings before giving the ball up to sophomore RHP McCarty English for two-thirds of an inning. Altogether, Crabtree, Sivley, Och and English surrendered five hits, six earned runs, six walks, and four hit batters while registering six strikeouts.

Senior RHP JW Armistead and senior RHP Colby Allen, who made his second appearance of the weekend, came in for the final four innings (two each) and gave up zero hits or runs. However, it was a case of too little, too late, as the Golden Eagles were unable to score in the final three frames.

The Sky Isn’t Falling… Yet

As bad as things might feel right now for the Golden Eagles, the sky isn’t falling… at least not yet. Although it doesn’t necessarily mean that things will end up going the same way, this year’s ballclub is still out-pacing the 2024 and 2025 teams in the win/loss column. Southern Miss was 22-14 by this point in 2024 and 24-12 in 2025. This team has the talent to turn things up a notch or two; Coach Oz and his staff will just have to find the right buttons to push to make that happen.

Nothing would help wash away the bad taste of an upset series loss to the Ragin’ Cajuns quite like a big midweek win over an in-state rival that is coming off a weekend sweep of LSU. Southern Miss will take on Ole Miss at Trustmark Park on Tuesday at 6 p.m., looking to bounce back from its latest gut-punch. Stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more baseball coverage throughout this coming week.