HATTIESBURG &045; Want to know what’s perhaps the hottest item in the state south of Interstate 20?

It’s tickets to Southern Miss’ regional tournament.

Officials there reported a sellout of weekend passes and 100 general admission bleacher tickets that were sold prior to noon Thursday. It’s the hype created by the Golden Eagles’ first time to host a regional after finishing with the best record in school history and claiming their first Conference USA tournament title.

The Eagles open at 2 p.m. today against Southern University.

&uot;It’s pretty exciting,&uot; said second baseman and Vidalia, La., product Jarrett Hoffpauir. &uot;It’s the talk of the town right now. That’s one of the keys for us. We knew we had a chance if we did well at the tournament. Then we ended up winning it.&uot;

The Golden Eagles (45-14) enter the four-team field as the No. 2 seed and will face the No. 3-seeded Jaguars (43-5). While Southern Miss is host, Baylor got the No. 1 seed and will meet up with Murray State at 7 p.m.

The Golden Eagles are the only host out of the 16 regional bids awarded by the NCAA that isn’t the No. 1 seed.

&uot;We’ve been playing some unbelievable baseball, and to get to (host) and then be the only one not to be a No. 1 seed &045; that’s just lack of respect,&uot; USM starter Stephen Castleman said. &uot;But that will be a lot of extra motivation for us to just go out there and prove again that we can play with anybody in the country.&uot;

The Bears (41-21) apparently garnered enough consideration after it lost in the Big 12 tournament championship game to defending national champion Texas. The tournament selection committee said Baylor was given strong consideration as a top eight national seed after reaching the Big 12 final.

USM is ranked two spots higher than Baylor in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll and six in Baseball America.

&uot;I don’t think we’re getting the respect we deserve, but that’s out of our hands,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;We’ve got to come out and play well and win every game. We’ve got to beat everybody. We’re hot right now. If our pitchers keep throwing well and we keep swinging it, we’re a tough team to beat.&uot;

Another team that may be tough to beat this weekend may be the Jaguars, who have what many believe will be the No. 1 pick in the MLB amateur draft next month in Rickie Weeks. Weeks finished the season hitting .497 with 16 home runs and 69 runs batted in.

But he’s not the only player expected to go in the draft. The team boasts a batting average of .364 and may have as many as eight players drafted.

&uot;Southern is the best team to come out of the SWAC in the modern-day era,&uot; USM head coach Corky Palmer said.

While the Jaguars’ numbers have been met with some skepticism by playing in the SWAC, they have beaten a number of bigger schools during the season. It’s the third time in the last four seasons the Jaguars have made a regional and the first they earned higher than a No. 4 seed.

&uot;I feel really good about it,&uot; Southern head coach Roger Cador said. &uot;A lot of people didn’t think we could do it. The players felt all along they were worthy. This is a great moment for the program.&uot;

The Golden Eagles sure aren’t taking them lightly.

&uot;They swing the bats real well,&uot; Hoffpauir said. &uot;I talked to one of my buddies (Tyler Dugas) at McNeese. They beat McNeese twice, and he said they swing the bats well but their pitching is about average. We’re hoping to take them out of the game early.&uot;

The Associated Press contributed to this report.