Why Southern Miss baseball is built to bounce back in Game 3 after letting Omaha slip away vs Tennessee

Southern Miss baseball rattled off 14 consecutive wins after back-to-back clobberings at the hands of Coastal Carolina in April threatened to exclude the Golden Eagles from the Sun Belt Conference title race.

The Golden Eagles rallied to lift the trophy when they were pushed to the brink of elimination thanks to an unexpected loss to App State at the conference tournament.

They delivered four consecutive victories after a defeat to open the Auburn Regional threatened to end their season with a whimper.

After an 8-4 loss to Tennessee Sunday at Pete Taylor Park in the Hattiesburg Super Regional, Southern Miss faces a familiar choice Monday: Respond or go home.

"Tomorrow is a survival (game)," Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said.

GAME RECAP: Mistakes prevent Southern Miss baseball from beating Tennessee in Game 2. Deciding game Monday.

These Golden Eagles (46-19) have been a team that eschews momentum's impact unless it's working in their favor. They have not lost consecutive games since those Coastal Carolina setbacks. They have not lost two home games in a row all season.

They must now find it within themselves to keep those streaks alive after blowing a four-run lead with ace Tanner Hall on the mound and a place in the College World Series within their reach.

Southern Miss simply could not have asked for a better situation than the one it entered in the top of the fourth inning Sunday, holding a 4-0 lead with the SBC Pitcher of the Year on a roll. You could have forgiven one of the 5,000-plus USM fans inside Pete Taylor Park for sneaking a peak at Omaha hotel rates for the CWS.

Then Volunteers (42-20) awoke their slumbering bats to chase Hall with six runs in the fourth and two in the fifth, aided by a defense that capitulated to the tune of four errors, leading to two unearned runs.

Thereafter, the Golden Eagles could not touch an emboldened Chase Dollander on the mound. After Christopher Sargent's three-run homer in the third, the future first-round MLB Draft pick retired 18 of the next 20 batters he faced.

Chase Burns came on in the ninth to close out the game and close off the easy path to Omaha. If Southern Miss is indeed going to send Berry to the College World Series for the first time as a head coach in his final season in charge of the program, it will have to do so the hard way.

It's a method these Golden Eagles are comfortable following. With veterans all over their lineup, you might even say they're built to bounce back.

"Same message that's been going on for the last couple weeks," USM shortstop Dustin Dickerson said. "We've dealt with it before, and we're gonna deal with it again."

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The Golden Eagles announced late Sunday evening that they will start righthander Niko Mazza (5-1, 4.13 ERA) on Monday (5 p.m., ESPN2). Tennessee had already revealed that it will start righty Drew Beam (8-4, 4.09).

Berry told reporters postgame that key reliever Will Armistead is available, though he did not say in what capacity. Armistead faces a challenge that mirrors what his team as a whole is up against.

He recorded one out when he took the ball Sunday at 11 a.m. for the resumption of Game 1, hitting two batters and walking another before he was lifted for Justin Storm. The Golden Eagles need the best version of him on Monday. If they do indeed advance, he will likely have played a big part.

"I will count on him to be available and go out and compete because I know who he is," Berry said. "I know what he is made of. Today he didn't have a very good outing obviously, but it didn't cost us anything. Moving forward, hopefully, from that experience, it'll make him better tomorrow."

David Eckert covers sports for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Southern Miss baseball is built to bounce back vs Tennessee in Game 3