HATTIESBURG – Southern Miss baseball has one month left in its regular season.
The Golden Eagles (25-15, 11-7 Sun Belt Conference) are in a three-way tie for second place in the Sun Belt Conference standings, trailing first-place Louisiana by four games. As of Monday, their RPI is 50.
Southern Miss has remaining Sun Belt series with Louisiana, Coastal Carolina, Arkansas and Texas. Nonconference games against Tulane, New Orleans and Ole Miss are also scheduled.
Here’s a look at which Southern Miss players are trending up and which players are trending down as we enter the final four weeks of the regular season.
Stock up on: Chandler vest
Chandler Best continued to perform well after missing the entire 2023 season.
He had been scoreless in his previous three games until April 16, when he allowed two earned runs to Nichols. Fan said he had four more games, 6.2 innings, and allowed just one run in 12 innings.
His best ERA was 4.08. He appeared in conference play four times, posting a 1.59 ERA and 0.77 WHIP.
Five of the eight earned runs this season have come in the two games against Nichols. Fortunately, he won’t have to play against the Colonels again this season.
Out of stock: Colby Allen
Southern Miss needed pitching additions after the Georgia State series, which included Colby Allen making his first start of the season on April 20 against Louisiana-Monroe.
Will Armistead coming out of the bullpen worked well, but it didn’t go so well for Allen, who gave up three runs in three innings.
He has now allowed at least one earned run in five straight games, three of which have allowed multiple runs. Allen, a sophomore right-hander, allowed 17 earned runs in his final 11.2 innings, raising his season ERA to 4.83 and 8.15 in conference play.
Stock up: Tucker Stockman
Southern Miss is looking for a rising catcher, and Tucker Stockman appears to be that catcher.
In the series against ULM, he reached base eight times, including a grand slam in Game 2. He currently has a batting average of .265, an OPS of .811, and four home runs.
Stockman also succeeded in stealing five bases with one passed ball. Southern Miss’ other commonly used catcher, Lawson Odom, has not caught a stolen base and has eight passed balls.
Soccer transfer portal:Southern Miss Football Spring Transfer Portal Tracker: Will Hall in, out.
Out of stock: Nolan Tucker
Southern Miss rated Valparaiso transfer Nolan Tucker very highly heading into the season. He was the starting second baseman on Opening Day, but started the season 0-for-12 before missing a month with a hand injury.
Tucker has appeared in five games since returning from injury on April 9, but did not appear at all against ULM.
The senior is hitting .130 with three hits.
Increase inventory: Davis Gillespie
Davis Gillespie is one of three players eligible for Southern Miss who hit over .300 with a .310 batting average.
He is currently on an eight-game hitting streak, with five of those games being multi-hit games. He was fourth on the team with six home runs and became a better first baseman as the season progressed.
Out of stock: Nico Mazza
Nico Mazza’s stock dropped considerably after allowing 10 runs in two innings at Georgia State.
Since then, he has bounced back nicely with consecutive strong pitches against Nichols and ULM.
His conference ERA is still 7.67.
Sam Sklar is the Southern Miss beat reporter for the Hattiesburg American. Email ssklar@hattiesb.gannett.com and follow us at @sklarsam_.
