Christian Ostrander gives Nick Monistere injury update before Southern Miss-Arkansas State series

HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss baseball is hitting the road for the final time in the 2024 regular season and might not have its important utilityman this weekend.

Coach Christian Ostrander updated Nick Monistere’s status before Wednesday’s practice, saying they are still determining the extent of his injury.

“He’s pretty sore still,” Ostrander said. “Today will be a good test. We’ll get some batting practice and see what it feels like swinging it. That was a pretty violent collision that he bruised up.

“Structurally, bones-wise and everything like that, we think he’s good. He’s just got some deep contusions there that we need to let heal, so these last two days have been good for him.”

Monistere got injured during Sunday’s series finale against Coastal Carolina in an awkward play when a base runner's knee smacked in him in the kidney/rib area while covering first base. Monistere was immediately removed from the game in the fifth inning and replaced by freshman Seth Smith.

“If I were betting on him, he’d say he’s going to play,” Ostrander said. “He didn’t want to come out the other day, but sometimes you got to help him realize some things too. If he’s healthy and he can do what he can normally do, then we’ll let him play if he says he’s good to go. If not, then we’ll rest him up and let somebody else (play).”

The series at Arkansas State (20-26-1, 7-16-1 Sun Belt) begins Friday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) in Jonesboro. Southern Miss (31-17, 15-9) is in a tie for third place in the conference and three games behind first-place Louisiana (35-15, 18-6).

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Monistere, a sophomore from Brandon, Mississippi, has made the second-most starts on the team with 47. Most of them have come at second base, but he’s also made starts at third base, left field and center field this season. He’s batting .260 and is second on Southern Miss in RBIs (41), runs (37) and stolen bases (7), third in home runs (8) and fourth in slugging percentage (.486).

If Monistere is unable to play, Smith would likely start. Valparaiso transfer Nolan Tucker hasn’t played since April 16 against Nicholls but could see more playing time, too.

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 injury update before Southern Miss-Arkansas State