Four USM baseball players were chosen on the second day of the MLB Draft

Story from USM ATHLETICS:
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Four Southern Miss baseball players were chosen on the second day of the Major League Baseball Draft, Monday, which includes the selections of right-handed pitcher Tanner Hall (4th round/114th pick) to the Minnesota Twins, left-handed pitcher Justin Storm (7th round/203rd pick) to the Miami Marlins, shortstop Dustin Dickerson (8th round/229th pick) to the Kansas City Royals and outfielder Matthew Etzel (10th round/301st pick) to the Baltimore Orioles.

Hall, a consensus All-American and 2023 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year, collected a 12-4 record in 2023 with a 2.48 earned run average. He fanned 124 and walked 33 in 112 1/3 innings. The ABCA/Rawlings Division I Gold Glove recipient also limited opponents to just a .207 batting average.

The Zachary, La., product becomes the fifth Golden Eagle taken by the Twins and first since Ben Ethridge was chosen in the 15th round last season. Two of those picks, Brian Dozier (2012-2018) and Matt Wallner (2022 and currently in AAA St. Paul), each reached the major leagues with Minnesota.

Storm, who was named a third-team All-America by the ABCA/Rawlings, was a stalwart out of the bullpen this spring as he made a team-high 29 appearances. He finished the season with a 7-2 record and a 2.36 ERA, while fanning 72 and walking 17 in 45 2/3 innings.

The Madison, Miss., native proved to be big in the postseason as he made five appearances in which he threw 17 1/3 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) for a 1.04 ERA during that stretch with 10 hits, four walks and 23 strikeouts en route to a 4-1 record over that span. Storm threw a career-high 5 2/3 innings against both Louisiana, May 28, and Penn, June 4, to garner victories. The win over Louisiana was in the Sun Belt tournament championship game and the Penn win sent the Golden Eagles to the NCAA Auburn Regional title game. He also threw the final 4 1/3 innings against Tennessee, June 11, in which he limited the Volunteers to no runs on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts for another victory.

Storm is the third Golden Eagle taken by the Marlins, with the last being Taylor Braley in 2017.

Dickerson started 65 games at shortstop and posted a team-best .328 batting average among qualified players with 11 home runs and 52 RBI. His homer and RBI totals were career bests. He hit eight of his 11 home runs from the final game of the regular season against Louisiana (May 20) with seven more coming in the postseason, including two in the Sun Belt Tournament, four in the Auburn Regional and one against Tennessee in the Super Regional.

From Laurel, Miss., Dickerson played and started in all but one game (208-of-209) during his four seasons, missing a game during this season after started in his first 169 games. He was named first-team All-Sun Belt Conference at shortstop and was a second-team ABCA/Rawlings all-region team selection. He also earned a spot on the Sun Belt all-tournament team and was the NCAA Auburn Regional Most Outstanding Player.

Dickerson is the sixth Golden Eagle chosen by the Royals and first since both Marc Maddox and Daniel Best were taken by Kansas City in 2006.

Etzel enjoyed being one of two Golden Eagles to start in all 66 games during the year on his way to batting .317 with 17 doubles, three triples, seven home runs and 51 RBI. Hit at bats (284) and hits (90) totals were the most by a Golden Eagle in a season since 2017, while his stolen base total of 23 was the most since the 1998 campaign.

The League City, Texas native enjoyed a season-best 10-game hitting streak and finished the year hitting safely in his last six games. Etzel finished third in the country in sacrifice flies with nine and hit all seven homers over a 15-game stretch, as he started that with a homer at Coastal Carolina (4/23) to lead off the game.

Etzel becomes the fifth Golden Eagle to get chosen by the Orioles and first by Baltimore since Reed Trimble was taken in the second round in 2021.

The Golden Eagles now have had a player drafted in the top four rounds in each draft since 2017 and set a school record for the most ever players taken in the Top 10 rounds.