HATTIESBURG — Connor Barron grew up just a few miles from Southern Mississippi, watching in high school as the Golden Eagles went to the NCAA tournament year after year, even advancing to the College World Series in 2009.
By the time he arrived on campus, he figured making the postseason was a birthright in Hattiesburg.
It’s not that easy.
But the Golden Eagles (35-16-1) are on their way to reclaiming their status as one of the nation’s best mid-major programs — and make an NCAA regional for the first time since 2011 — after a 13-game winning streak that has stretched into this week’s Conference USA tournament in Hattiesburg.
“That was one of my main goals when I came here — to play in a regional,” Barron said. “I haven’t done that yet unfortunately, but it feels really good to be back in the talks.”
Barron, a 6-foot-2, 193-pound senior, has been one of the team’s best players all spring, hitting .299 with eight home runs, 30 RBIs, and 13 stolen bases, all while playing a solid center field.
It has been a satisfying final season for Barron after three difficult years. He came to Southern Miss despite being selected by the Miami Marlins in the third round of the 2011 draft, but he had just a .237 career average with the Golden Eagles before this spring.
“It’s huge for me,” Barron said. “I felt like I had a responsibility, along with the other seniors, to get this team back to postseason play. We’ve really put a lot of work into this.”
Southern Miss has routinely played and beat schools from the power conferences. It has a 4-0 record against the Southeastern Conference the season, including two wins against Ole Miss and one each against Alabama and Mississippi State.
But the Golden Eagles still looked like they were going to scuffle to another ho-hum season until late April, when a 10-7 victory against Texas-San Antonio sparked the current 13-game winning streak, which ties a school record set in 1995.
The streak — which has lasted nearly a month — has included wins of all varieties, including four shutouts, four games where the offense has scored 10-plus runs and one game that lasted a school-record 17 innings.
“When you look at the big picture, the chemistry is there,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “Chemistry is such a huge part of success. Very few teams who don’t have chemistry have success — they fall apart.”
The Golden Eagles are led on the mound by James McMahon, whose senior year success has mirrored Barron’s.
McMahon was a reliever who had a 6.04 career ERA before he was moved into the starting rotation this spring. The 6-foot-1, 212-pounder responded by being named the Conference USA Pitcher of the Year on Tuesday after a regular season that included an 11-1 record and 1.72 ERA.
It’s a big reason the Golden Eagles have a 3.17 ERA, which is tied for the league lead with Rice.
“People have just accepted their roles,” McMahon said. “A lot of guys don’t get much credit … They don’t get the awards, but they’re able to come in during crunch time and they get those big outs with runners on base.”
SEC tournament
n Arkansas 2, Tennessee 1: At Hoover, Alabama, Michael Bernal’s ninth-inning double scored the winning run to lead the Razorbacks past the Volunteers on Tuesday in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Arkansas (34-20) advances to face fourth-seeded Florida today, when the tournament’s format switches to double elimination. Tennessee (24-26) was eliminated.
Arkansas needed a two-out rally in the ninth to win. After the first two Razorbacks were retired, a Rick Nomura single, followed by Bernal’s double to left field ended the game.
Trey Killian started on the mound for the Razorbacks, giving up one run in 7 2/3 innings. Zach Jackson (5-0) earned the win, throwing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Tennessee swept Mississippi State last weekend to earn the final spot in the SEC tournament, but had only four hits against Arkansas.
n Auburn 6, Kentucky 3: Daniel Robert and Jackson Burgreen each had three hits and Cole Lipscomb pitched 7 2/3 strong innings to lead the Tigers past the Wildcats on Tuesday night.
The Tigers (35-22) will face regular-season champion LSU (46-9) today. Lipscomb (8-2) allowed two runs on four hits while striking out nine. He didn’t issue a walk.
Tom Ka’ai led off the seventh inning with a home run for Kentucky (30-25) and had two RBIs.
Burgreen had a two-run triple in the fourth for Auburn. He and Robert both drove in two runs.
Auburn is playing in its first SEC tournament since 2013. It had lost five of its last seven games.
Kentucky scored two runs in the eighth on RBI singles by Ka’ai and Kyle Barrett. Ka’ai had three hits.
n Missouri 5, South Carolina 1: Reggie McClain threw seven strong innings to lead the Tigers past the Gamecocks on Tuesday.
The seventh-seeded Tigers (30-26) face No. 2 Vanderbilt today when the tournament moves to a double-elimination format. South Carolina (32-25) is eliminated and is in danger of missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in 16 years.
Missouri jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning and had 11 hits. Trey Harris led the Tigers with three hits. McClain (7-7) gave up just one run on six hits while striking out four.
Brecklin Williams threw two scoreless innings of relief for his 13th save.
South Carolina’s Jack Wynkoop (8-5) gave up four runs in seven innings. The Gamecocks’ Gene Cone had two hits.
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