The 2023 baseball season is finally here! Liberty will open up on Friday, Feb. 17 for the first of three games at Southern Miss this weekend in at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
The Golden Eagles are traditionally one of the better mid-major baseball programs in the country. They finished the 2022 season with a 47-19 overall record and hosted a regional and super regional. Southern Miss would fall to Ole Miss in two games in the supers.
Southern Miss is once again expected to have a very strong team as they are ranked No. 18 in the D1 Baseball preseason top 25 poll. The Golden Eagles were also the preseason pick to win the Sun Belt.
Things get started Friday evening at 5 p.m. with two aces taking the mound as the ASUN Preseason Pitcher of the Year Garrett Horn toes the rubber against the Sun Belt Preseason Pitcher of the Year Tanner Hall.
Hall was named the 2022 Conference USA Pitcher of the Year and a consensus first-team All-American as he posted a 9-3 record with a 2.81 ERA with 146 strikeouts and only 14 walks over 109 innings of work. Over the summer, Hall made the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.
“It’s Tanner Hall on opening day,” said Liberty head coach Scott Jackson. “He’s arguably one of the top five or six starting pitchers in the country, Team USA guy. Here we go, right out of the gate, similar to last year with Hunter Barco for Florida.”
Carson Paetow was a Freshman All-American for Southern Miss last year. He played in 65 games with 61 starts, primarily in right right field. He batted .271 with 15 doubles, 16 home runs and 48 RBI to go along with 46 runs scored. His slugging percentage of .546 was the best on the team.
Dustin Dickerson leads the infield for Southern Miss, starting all 66 games at shortstop last season and having started all 143 games during his career for the Golden Eagles. He led the team in hitting last season with a .320 average to go along with 24 doubles and 32 RBI.
Following Friday’s game, the teams will again meet on Saturday at 5 p.m. and the series finale will be on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“I don’t know any different,” Jackson said of his team playing a tough opponent to begin the season. “I don’t think that gives your team a good sense of anything when you play an opponent who just isn’t as good as what we’re used to playing in a non-conference slate. I think we have to do that. I think the kids are going to be excited for it. It’s Southern Miss. It’s going to be rowdy. It’s sold out, I think, already for all three games, that will be fun. There’s something at stake right out of the gate, that’s how I like it. I’m excited for it.”
