Southern Miss baseball and Ole Miss announce starting pitchers for NCAA super regional

HATTIESBURG — The pitching matchups for the super regional between Southern Miss baseball and Ole Miss were announced Wednesday.

The best-of-three series begins Saturday, and Southern Miss will start sophomore Hurston Waldrep (6-1, 2.97 ERA). Ole Miss announced that it plans to go with Dylan DeLucia (5-2, 4.69).

The Golden Eagles (47-17) have won with their starting pitching all season, and own a 3.12 team ERA, which is the second-best mark in the country behind only Tennessee.

Ole Miss' numbers aren't quite as stellar, with a 4.60 team ERA, but the Rebels (35-22) did receive some quality outings in their sweep of the Coral Gables Regional last week.

Waldrep was outstanding for the Golden Eagles in their first clash with LSU last week, tossing 6⅔ innings of two-run ball. DeLucia allowed four earned runs in six innings during a Rebels win over Arizona in their regional.

Sunday, the Golden Eagles will run out Tanner Hall (9-2. 2.61). Hall made two starts in the Hattiesburg Regional, pitching eight shutout innings against Army before allowing two earned runs in two innings-plus against LSU on short rest.

Hall said his arm was slightly sore Tuesday, but felt good Wednesday.

"Today I came out and threw as I do every Wednesday, and I feel exactly the same, which is a good sign," Hall said.

He'll be opposed by Hunter Elliott (3-3, 3.17) for Ole Miss. Elliott has statistically been the Rebels' most effective starting pitching this season across nine starts. He was superb against Miami in the regional, striking out eight and allowing just one run over five innings.

Southern Miss will use Hunter Riggins (8-4, 2.59) for Monday's deciding third game, should it be necessary. Ole Miss announced that its Monday starter is still to be determined.

Riggins was excellent against Kennesaw State in the regional, pitching a full nine innings and allowing one earned run.

SOURCE: Eckert, David. "Southern Miss baseball and Ole Miss announce starting pitchers for NCAA super regional." Hattiesburg American, 8 June 2022, https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/sports/college/southern-miss/baseball/2022/06/08/southern-miss-baseball-super-regional-ole-miss-starting-pitchers-hattiesburg/7562946001/

Reach Southern Miss writer David Eckert at deckert@gannett.com or on Twitter @davideckert98.