After another 40+ win season and conference tournament title in 2024, expectations are once again lofty for Southern Miss baseball.
The black and gold were picked to finish at the top of the Sun Belt in 2025, as voted on by the conference’s 14 head coaches. Five Golden Eagles were also named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team – the most of any program.
Southern Miss totaled 179 points and five first-place votes in the preseason poll, beating out Troy, who is ranked No. 25 in D1Baseball’s preseason top 25, by a single vote. Louisiana was just behind the top two, followed by Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern.
𝙇𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝘿𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚 😤
Golden Eagles sit atop preseason Coaches Poll and have five slated to Preseason All-Sun Belt team!
📰 https://t.co/o7sx3iFXAk#EverythingMatters | #SMTTT pic.twitter.com/6RY2XPQHij
— Southern Miss Baseball (@SouthernMissBSB) February 5, 2025
Junior pitcher Colby Allen was one of three starting pitchers named to the preseason all-conference crew. Though the Starkville product primarily worked in a relief role last season, scratching a 3.58 ERA and 4.5:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio into the scorecard, he’s in line to compete for the Friday night ace role for Christian Ostrander in 2025.
Allen made a team-high tying 27 appearances and collected a team-best seven saves last spring, along with a sparkling 10-2 win-loss record. The win total ranked 12th in NCAA D1 baseball and was also a team-best, earning him ABCA All-South Regional honors.
After a breakout sophomore season, Matthew Russo was named the lone first baseman on the Preseason All-Sun Belt team. Russo started 56 games with 39 starts, batting .315 with 10 doubles, six home runs, and 38 RBI.
The big lefty ranked sixth in the Sun Belt in both on-base percentage (.474) and slugging percentage (.676), while he became a key cog in the Golden Eagle order during the second half of the 2024 season.
Ozzie Pratt became a fan favorite during his first season wearing the black and gold after transferring from BYU after the 2023 season. The Senatobia native was the only Golden Eagle to start every possible contest last season (63) and was Second Team All-Sun Belt at the year’s end.
In league games, Pratt was second in the Sun Belt for batting average (.421) and hits (53), while tying for third in doubles (12) and ninth in total bases (73).
Davis Gillespie, coming off a stellar redshirt freshman season, was one of three outfielders given preseason all-conference honors. The young bopper slashed .318 with 19 doubles, eight home runs, and 44 RBI, quickly becoming the everyday man in left field.
The Birmingham native was a cornerstone in the middle of the 2024 order for Southern Miss, collecting 14 multi-RBI performances and 24 multi-hit games across 55 starts.
Nick Monistere, the most familiar face for Golden Eagle faithful of the bunch, made the all-league team as a utility player. While the Brandon product has played an array of positions in both the infield and outfield in his time in Hattiesburg, he’s expected to run the daily controls at second base in 2025.
Monistere made 61 starts last season while starting five different positions, the only Golden Eagle to do so since Michael Sterling played the Swiss Army knife part in 2012. The junior finished second on the club with 53 RBI and was tied for second in home runs (11).
Southern Miss will look to continue their nation-best streak of eight consecutive 40+ win seasons in 2025, with the opening four-game series against Lafayette College set for 4 p.m. inside Pete Taylor Park on February 14.
