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SL Mississippi Braves

Southern Miss Night on Thursday to Include Nick Monistere, Dustin Dickerson, Scott Berry and Jay Ladner

June 21, 2023 - Southern League (SL)
Mississippi Braves News Release


PEARL, MS - The Mississippi Braves will host Southern Miss Night at Trustmark Park on Thursday, presented by Farm Bureau, and celebrate an exciting 2022-2023 year of athletics. The night will include pregame festivities featuring baseball team members Nick Monistere, a product of Northwest Rankin High School, Dustin Dickerson from Laurel, MS, plus head coach Scott Berry and basketball head coach Jay Ladner.

The Golden Eagles baseball team reached its second-straight super regional, its seven-straight NCAA Tournament, and 19th overall in 2023.

Monistere, the freshman from Brandon, MS, hit .320 with nine doubles, five home runs, and 28 RBI in 45 games during his first season with the Golden Eagles. Monistere was 1-0 on the mound with a 4.00 ERA, 10 strikeouts, and five walks in 10.0 innings and nine appearances. At Northwest Rankin, his senior season, he was the Class 6A Player of the Year by the Mississippi Association of Coaches and led the Cougars to the 6A State Championship with a 34-3 record and a No. 5 national ranking by Baseball America. He was 11-1 with a 1.53 ERA in 73 innings of work, striking out 115 batters with 22 walks.

Dickerson, the junior from Laurel, Miss., led the team in batting with a .328 average, with 21 doubles, three triples, 11 home runs, and 52 RBI. Seven of his homers came in the postseason as he hit five in the NCAA Tournament, which helped him be named the Most Outstanding Player for the Auburn Regional.

Berry guided the Golden Eagles for the last 14 seasons and has been a part of the program for 23 years, joining the staff as an assistant coach under Coach Corky Palmer for the 2001 campaign. He is one of only four coaches to lead the Golden Eagles program since the 1959 campaign. The Neosho, Mo., native and four-time Conference USA Coach of the Year has led the Golden Eagles to five regular season conference crowns, four league tournament titles, and eight NCAA Tournament berths, including two regional hosting and one super regional hosting opportunities. The Golden Eagle program has produced more consecutive 40-plus win seasons than any other Division I program, with six and Ole Miss and Florida State failing to reach 30 wins this spring; it will have the most consecutive 30-plus win seasons at 21. Berry surpassed Hill Denson last season as the school's all-time winningest baseball coach and, entering his final regular-season series with Louisiana, compiled a 517-271-1 record over his time with the program.

Southern Miss men's basketball head coach Jay Ladner was named the Joe Gottfried Sun Belt Coach of the Year after producing one of the best turnaround stories in NCAA Division I basketball history. Ladner's Golden Eagles have racked up 25 wins after finishing with seven a season ago. The 18-win swing is two shy of tying the record for the best turnaround in NCAA history that Iowa State set during the 2021-22 season. Southern Miss has also set numerous records under Ladner's tutelage this season.

The Golden Eagles' 25 wins are tied for the most in Southern Miss' Division I era and four shy of tying the most wins in program history. Ladner's team also went 15-0 at Reed Green Coliseum to tie the 2011-12 team for the best home-winning percentage in program history. The Golden Eagles finished Sun Belt play with 14 wins to tie the 1949-50 team for the most conference wins in a single season. Ladner is the first coach to earn coach of the year honors since Larry Eustachy in 2012.

All Southern Miss fans on Thursday wearing Golden Eagle gear to the Trustmark Park box office will get a $5 ticket.

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