Since joining the Sun Belt, Southern Miss has not just shown up in Montgomery. The Golden Eagles have taken over the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament.
From 2023 through 2025, Southern Miss went 11-2 in Sun Belt Tournament games in Montgomery, won back-to-back championships, reached three straight title games, and built a postseason identity around pitching, late-inning toughness, and a lineup that always seems to find one more swing.
The run started in 2023, during Scott Berry’s final season. Southern Miss opened its first Sun Belt Tournament with a 7-1 win over James Madison, powered by Tanner Hall’s complete game. Hall allowed just one unearned run on three hits, struck out nine, walked none, and retired 15 straight batters at one point. Offensively, Nick Monistere hit a two-run homer, Rodrigo Montenegro collected three hits, and Reece Ewing drove in three runs as the Golden Eagles immediately looked comfortable in Montgomery.
The next day, Southern Miss survived Troy 7-6, with Justin Storm earning the win. That victory pushed the Golden Eagles into the driver’s seat of their bracket and showed what would become a Montgomery theme: Southern Miss could win clean, or it could win ugly, but it kept finding ways.
App State finally slowed the Golden Eagles on Saturday morning, beating Southern Miss 4-2 and forcing a second semifinal game. But Southern Miss responded like a championship team. Hours later, Will Armistead threw a complete game, Christopher Sargent opened the scoring with a two-run double, Matthew Etzel and Reece Ewing had three hits each, Danny Lynch doubled home a run, Nick Monistere added an RBI double, Carson Paetow drove in two, and Slade Wilks launched his 19th homer as Southern Miss run-ruled App State 11-1 in seven innings.
Then came the 2023 championship game against Louisiana. Southern Miss won 6-2, sending Berry out as a conference tournament champion. Justin Storm was electric in relief, throwing 5.1 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. Dustin Dickerson and Danny Lynch homered, Christopher Sargent added two hits, and Wilks delivered the signature swing with a towering two-run homer in the seventh. Hall was named tournament MVP, while Dickerson, Lynch, Sargent and Hall made the All-Tournament Team.
In 2024, under first-year head coach Christian Ostrander, the Golden Eagles did it again.
Southern Miss opened with a 5-0 win over Coastal Carolina. Billy Oldham threw seven shutout innings, allowing just one hit while striking out nine. The game was scoreless until the eighth, when Slade Wilks ripped a two-run double off the left-field wall and Nick Monistere followed with a three-run homer to center. Colby Allen finished the shutout with two scoreless innings.
Against Troy, Southern Miss trailed 5-3 in the eighth before rallying for a 6-5 win. Matthew Russo doubled home two runs to tie it, then Dalton McIntyre tapped a bases-loaded ball in front of the plate to bring Russo home with the winning run. Russo had two doubles and three RBI, McIntyre had three hits, and JB Middleton threw 2.1 scoreless innings before Josh Och closed it out.
The semifinal against App State became a weather-delay marathon. Southern Miss fell behind 5-2, waited through more than eight combined hours of delays, then exploded for five runs in the fifth. Wilks doubled in two, Davis Gillespie brought in another, and Monistere crushed a two-run homer. Josh Och and Colby Allen slammed the door, with Allen earning the save in a 7-5 win that sent Southern Miss to another title game.
The 2024 championship game was chaos. Georgia Southern hit a tournament-record six home runs, but Southern Miss still won 14-11. Davis Gillespie opened the scoring with a three-run homer. Wilks delivered a two-run single in the seventh. In the ninth, Tucker Stockman, Gabe Broadus and Dalton McIntyre started the rally with three straight hits, Ozzie Pratt reached on an error to give Southern Miss the lead, and Matthew Russo added a two-run insurance single. Allen, named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, got the final three outs.
In 2025, Southern Miss came back to Montgomery chasing a third straight title. The Golden Eagles opened with a 9-1 win over Texas State, extending their winning streak to a program-record 16 games. JB Middleton struck out 10 over seven innings, Jake Cook hit a two-run homer, Ozzie Pratt drove in three, and Matthew Russo added a sacrifice fly.
Southern Miss then hammered Old Dominion 10-0 in seven innings, putting itself one win from a third straight championship game. In the semifinal, the Golden Eagles beat Troy 2-1 behind Joey Urban’s two-run double, Kros Sivley’s 3.2 innings of relief, and Colby Allen’s six-out save. Allen struck out four and stranded Troy’s chances as Southern Miss punched its ticket to a third straight Sun Belt final.
The streak finally ended in the 2025 championship game, when Coastal Carolina beat Southern Miss 7-5. Joey Urban and Ben Higdon homered, and the Golden Eagles actually outhit Coastal, but Southern Miss left 13 runners on base while Coastal used a five-run fifth inning to take control.
Since joining the Sun Belt, Southern Miss has made Montgomery feel like an extension of Hattiesburg. The Golden Eagles have won with aces like Tanner Hall, Billy Oldham and JB Middleton. They have won with bullpen arms like Justin Storm, Colby Allen, Josh Och and Kros Sivley. They have won with big swings from Slade Wilks, Nick Monistere, Danny Lynch, Davis Gillespie, Matthew Russo, Joey Urban and others.
Montgomery has become Southern Miss’ May proving ground.
And as the Golden Eagles begin another Sun Belt Tournament run against Georgia State, history says one thing clearly: if Southern Miss gets comfortable in Montgomery, the rest of the league usually has a problem.
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