Southern Miss confident in pitching ahead of regional

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WLOX) - Southern Miss is in the top half of Conference USA in most major hitting categories as a team. They strike out the least. They’re fourth in home runs. They’re fifth in batting average and on-base percentage.

They can get you anywhere in the lineup, but pitching has been their bread and butter. Their pitchers have thrown the second-most innings in the conference, but still registered the most strikeouts, 95 more than the next closest. They’ve surrendered the fewest runs, and have the lowest ERA by over one run. Nearly every pitching statistic there is, Southern Miss is either first or not far behind in Conference USA. That comes with a price, though: lots of innings of work. But consistency and longevity, particularly among starters, has gotten them this far, and they feel good about their arms heading into this weekend.

“Very rarely do you start and end a year with the same three that got the majority of your weekend starts. We got to do that, and that’s a luxury. That’s helped us get to where we are,” pitching coach Christian Ostrander said. “They’re human beings, too, this time of year innings creep up. They’re all around that 80-90 inning plateau. Everyone is going to have a little fatigue, right now is where the mentality and the mental approach has to take over and just kind of find another gear.”

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