By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director
HATTIESBURG — As Southern Miss swung into action in the NCAA Baseball Tournament Friday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn., a quartet of former prep standouts in the “Southern Six” were in uniform for the Golden Eagles.

Southern Miss didn’t have long to wait to hear its name called Monday morning when the NCAA announced its 64-team field for the upcoming Baseball Championships. The Golden Eagles were among the four teams in the first regional announced, at the No. 1 overall seed Tennessee. USM (41-18) will battle Indiana (32-24-1) at noon Friday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on the UT campus in Knoxville.

And Southern Miss will be fighting to make it to the Super Regional round with four players from South Mississippi, including a trio from Jackson County.

Former Ocean standout McCarty English and Vancleave’s Carson Paetow will be in uniform for the Golden Eagles and first year head coach Christian Ostrander in Knoxville this weekend as will be former St.Martin Yellow Jacket Landon Payne. Former Pass Christian High standout Peyton Lacey rounds out the local quarter with Southern Miss.

After being a big part of Southern Mississippi’s success all season long, Paetow did not start in any of the Golden Eagles’ four games at the Sun Belt Tournament because of an injury but he did come in as a defensive replacement in Sunday’s championship game against Georgia Southern.

And, as it turned out, USM didn’t need their co-captain to win the tournament championship.

The Golden Eagles eased past Coastal Carolina 5-0 in Tuesday’s opener, rallied to defeat Troy 6-5 on Wednesday, held off Appalachian State 7-5 in Saturday’s semifinal, and scored five runs in the top of the ninth to overcome GSU 14-11 in the final.

While USM was successful without Paetow in the short term, no one says the Golden Eagles are better without him. His status is day-to-day.

“He’s been a veteran, and we desperately want him back,” said Ostrander. “We want his presence back in there, for sure. “He’s got a lot of charisma; everybody loves his personality. He’s been a great Golden Eagle.“He’s got great defensive ability, great offensive ability, leadership. I mean, he’s the whole package. He’s a team captain for a reason. He was voted by his peers, his teammates, as captain for a reason.”

Paetow pretty much picked up in 2024 where he left off the previous two seasons as a key member of the Golden Eagles.In 56 games out of the No. 5 spot in the batting order for most of the season, Paetow is batting .285 with 11 home runs, 11 doubles, 46 runs-batted-in and a team-high 43 walks.

He also has a spotless fielding record, with three assists and no errors in 110 chances.

“It’s been a fun year, especially with this being Coach Oz’s first year as head coach,” said Paetow. “It’s been cool to be part of that.“We’ve been a little up and down, but now we’re getting on a roll. Hopefully, we can keep it going in the postseason.”

Meanwhile, the other three players from South Mississippi are all relief pitchers. English, a true freshman that helped lead Ocean Springs to the Class 6A South State playoffs last season, has appeared in 11 games for USM this season with one start. He is 1-0 with two saves in just over 18 innings pitched with an earned run average of 4.91.

Payne has made eight relief appearances and stand 0-1 this season in 11 frames of work. Lacy is also 0-1 in six relief appearances that resulted in almost five innings of work.