MOBILE, Ala. ? South Alabama used a three-run fourth inning and a five-run fifth to overcome a 7-2 deficit and knock off the No. 26 Southern Miss Golden Eagles, by a score of 10-8 at Stanky Field Wednesday night.

With the win, South Alabama improves to 12-7 on the season, while Southern Miss drops to 12-6. Jag left-hander Stephen Boyd picked up the win in relief for USA, improving his record to 4-0. Jordan King took the loss for Southern Miss, he is now 1-1. Chris LaGrow nailed down his fifth save of the season, by throwing a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

“It was a big game for us after we got swept at Louisiana-Lafayette,” said Jaguar head coach Steve Kittrell. “We got down, but we didn’t panic, we just came back and swung the bats. I thought Boyd, (Brett) Turner and LaGrow were outstanding in relief.”

Southern Miss scored in each of the first five innings, taking a 7-2 lead, before South Alabama mounted its game-winning comeback. For the Jags, the five-run deficit was their largest lead overcome this season.

Southern Miss jumped out to an early lead, scoring one run in the first on a Trey Cuevas single, before USA took the lead back, with two runs in the bottom of the first. Eric Shortell singled up the middle on a 3-0 pitch to give USA a 2-1 lead.

The next three innings were all Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles scored the next six runs unanswered. Cuevas again helped the USM offense, hammering a third inning solo home run to left field.

With the score 7-2, USA’s Joel Collins hammered his fourth home run of the season, a two-run blast to left field, to cut the USM lead to 7-4. The Jags would add another in the inning to cut the lead to just two runs before Southern Miss tacked on a single run in the top of the fifth.

South Alabama took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning, as they scored five runs on five hits, the big blow coming off the bat of Jeff Cunningham. After fouling off several pitches, Cunningham lined a two-out, two-strike, bases loaded triple into the right centerfield gap. The Jags held a 10-8 lead at that point, which they would never relinquish.

Next up for South Alabama is a three-game Sun Belt Conference series with Arkansas State at Stanky Field. Friday’s first pitch will be at 6 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday will start at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively.

Live Stats for all Jaguar baseball games can be accessed at www.usajaguars.com. Tickets for this weekend’s series can be bought at the gate or can be purchased by calling the USA Ticket Office at (251) 460-6047.