When you’re hot, you’re hot…and when you’re not, you’renot.

Relief pitcher Paxton King and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles hopeto keep their fire burning in the NCAA Region Tournament at Auburn,Ala. This weekend. They’ll play Clemson’s Tigers at PlainsmenField, starting at 2 p.m., CDT, Friday. Auburn will playJacksonville (Fla.) State at 6 p.m.

It’s a double-elimination tournament so that means only the teamwith strong pitching will survive.

King, a redshirt freshman southpaw from Brookhaven, said he islooking forward to the regional. “We are excited.”

The Eagles (35-22) departed Wednesday at 4 p.m. USM fans bought outtheir allotment of regional tickets Tuesday. They plan on a longweekend in Auburn cheering for their black and gold squad.

“We feel confident about our chances in the regional,” said King.”We match up well. We have two pitchers, Todd McInnis and ScottCopeland, who can go out there and beat anybody. We believe we canwin it.”

Few folks believed the Eagles could win the Conference USATournament in Houston. They converted new followers as they workedtheir way into the championship game last Saturday night, beatinghometown favorite and No. 1 seed Rice in the title test.

“To be eight hours away in Houston, we had a good many fans there,”said King. “We have talked to a lot of people who are going toAuburn.”

Southern Miss made its first-ever World Series appearance lastyear. Chances of a return trip appeared dim as Scott Berry replacedveteran Corky Palmer who retired. The pitching staff wasstruggling. Finally, the staff found the groove and the rest ishistory.

Southern Miss must play exceptionally well to win the regional andadvance to a Super Regional. Of course, they have to take it onegame at a time, starting with Clemson (38-21). Win or lose, allfour teams play Saturday.

“We know that Clemson has a solid pitching staff,” said King. “Theydon’t hit with a lot of power. But they are real fast and they hitthe ball hard. They do a lot of drag bunts.”

King said USM’s pitchers have been honing their pickoff movesduring the morning practices this week. “We’ve been working onpicks and holding runners in practice.”

Currently, King is content with his role of middle reliever. He andfreshman Jay Myrick have been the main mid relievers.

“I’ve been a mid reliever and I try to be the setup guy for thecloser,” said King. “I like that a lot. You never really know whenyou are going to pitch. You have to be ready to give it all you’vegot.”

Asked about changes in his arsenal, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Kingreplied, “I’m throwing the changeup more than ever. Other than thefastball, that’s been my main pitch. I throw a breaking ball tolefthanders.”

King is majoring in business. He had an impressive 3.7 GPA the lastsemester.

In his spare time he enjoys bass fishing. He has a favorite fishinghole off Highway 98 and another lake in Petal. King said the bassare biting dark green plastic worms. They also like greenflukes.

Like his teammates, they won’t have time to fish this weekend.They’ll be angling for a regional crown, a.k.a. trophy.

Meanwhile, the Ole Miss Rebels are in Charlottesville, Va. Thisweekend for one of the NCAA’s 24 regionals. Ole Miss (38-22) facesSt. John’s (40-18) at 7 p.m. tomorrow night. Host Virginia (42-11)plays Virginia Commonwealth (34-24) at 3 p.m.

Obviously, the Rebels would like nothing better than avenging lastyear’s Super Regional elimination loss to Virginia as the Cavaliersadvanced to the World Series in Omaha, Neb.

Ole Miss boasts one of the best pitchers in junior right-handerDrew Pomeranz, the SEC Pitcher of the Year. Pomeranz was awardedthe Boo Ferriss Trophy two weeks ago, recognizing him as the bestcollege baseball player in the Magnolia State.

Congratulations to the MHSAA State baseball champions!

In case you missed it, the Petal Panthers captured the first-everClass 6A title with a 15-7 win over Madison Central in Game 3. LongBeach, which eliminated Brookhaven two straight games in the firstround of the 5A state playoffs, beat Ridgeland two straight as theBearcats claimed their first state title in any sport.

In Class 4A, St. Stanislaus marched to the title as theRock-a-Chaws swept Amory two straight. The Chaws also won statetitles in football and boys basketball this school year, givingthem a triple crown.

In Class 3A, top-ranked Sumrall dominated Water Valley two straightgames. The Bobcats are ranked No. 2 in the nation after winning athird straight championship.

In Class 2A, Richton swept Hamilton. In Class 1A, Vicksburg St.Aloysius made it back-to-back state championships, beating Myrtlein Game 3.

Write to sports editor Tom Goetz, c/o The DAILY LEADER, P.O. BOX551, Brookhaven, MS 39601, or e-mail sports@dailyleader.com