Inside Southern Miss baseball's dramatic win vs Troy from Drey Barrett's heroics

MONTGOMERY, AL − If it only took 26 outs to win a baseball game, Troy would have beaten Southern Miss baseball and banish the Golden Eagles to the losers' bracket of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The 27th out never took place, so it was the Golden Eagles who did the celebrating.

Drey Barrett hit a walk-off grand slam over the train stopped beyond the left field wall at DABOS Park in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the No. 1 seed Golden Eagles (42-14) a dramatic 7-6 victory over the No. 4 seed Trojans (30-28) on May 22.

It likely solidified Southern Miss to host an NCAA Tournament regional in Hattiesburg and kept its hopes alive for top-eight seed as a potential super regional host.

The game, originally scheduled to start at 11 a.m., didn’t start until 7:30 p.m. due to bad weather.

"Baseball is crazy," Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said.

The No. 10 Golden Eagles will play on May 23 (12:30 p.m., ESPN+) against the survivor from losers' bracket winner between Troy and South Alabama played earlier in the morning.

The Golden Eagles have won 11 games in a row, a win streak dating back to May 2.

Barrett hit two home runs and drove in six runs. It was a career performance for the sophomore, who went to high school in nearby Holtville, Alabama.

"That was an incredible experience," Barrett said. "Especially being from 20 minutes down the road. I told their catcher, when I got to the plate, 'This is why we do it, huh?' That was the moment you dream of when you're in the backyard playing wiffle ball with your little brother."

Barrett's first home run of the game came in the sixth inning. The second homer was bigger and was the Golden Eagles' 41st walk-off victory since the start of the 2017 season.

Outside of Barrett, the Golden Eagles' offense was largely held in check. Troy starting pitcher Benjamin Stubbs allowed two runs on seven hits in five innings of work, striking out seven batters and walking three.

"That was a tough game," Ostrander said. "A lot of credit goes to Troy. I thought they were really good tonight. Their pitchers made it hard on us."

Southern Miss recorded 11 hits but had trouble brining runners home, stranding nine.

It seemed to be more of the same in the fateful ninth inning. With one out, Seth Davis and Joey Urban hit consecutive singles and Kyle Morrison drew a walk to load the bases. 

Davis Gillespie walked in a run to make it 6-3. After Matt Russo struck out it was up to Barrett. And there was no question after the ball left his bat.

"That was my first ever walk-off home run," Barrett said. "I kind of blacked out. As soon as I hit the ball I knew it was a homer and I blacked out. I'm sure I bat-flipped or whatever. That's not really my game, but emotions were high. It was just a great experience."

Now the Golden Eagles can advance to the championship game on May 24 with one more win.

"I tip my cap to Troy," Ostrander said. "They battled their tails off and deserved to win that game too. We'll get some rest and be ready for tomorrow."

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Inside Southern Miss baseball's dramatic win vs Troy in Sun Belt Tournament