What Southern Miss baseball said of Nick Monistere’s injury after win vs Coastal Carolina

HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss second baseman Nick Monistere was involved in a scary situation during the fifth inning of Sunday's game against Coastal Carolina when he collided with a baserunner while covering first base.

Chanticleers shortstop Ty Dooley laid down a bunt to advance a runner from second base. Tucker Stockman fielded the ball and threw it to first base. Monistere caught it, but Dooley simultaneously crashed into him and dropped the ball. Both players fell to the ground and were attended to by team trainers.

Monistere left the game walking under his own power while Dooley stayed in the game. Seth Smith replaced Monistere at second base.

Southern Miss (31-17, 15-9 Sun Belt Conference) defeated Coastal Carolina (27-20, 11-13) 6-5 in a game that ended in the seventh inning because of Coastal Carolina's travel plans.

"I don't know," Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said after the win. "He's hurting pretty good. He got a pretty good knee right there in the kidney/ribs area. We're going to get him X-rayed and hope there's no broken ribs or anything like that, but he was in some pain.

"He wanted to stay out there, and I respect that, but I said, 'Nick, if you can't play 100% and help this team win, then you don't need to do it.' He realized that so we'll get him checked out and hopefully he'll be OK."

Monistere, a sophomore from Brandon, Mississippi, is a valuable utilityman for Southern Miss having played four different positions (second base, third base, left field and center field) this season. He’s also batted in seven different spots in the order.

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Monistere is batting .260 on the season with eight home runs and 41 RBIs. He was 1-for-2 on Sunday before leaving the game.

Sam Sklar is the Southern Miss beat reporter for the Hattiesburg American. Email him at ssklar@hattiesb.gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Nick Monistere: Southern Miss baseball updates injury status Sunday