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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 3 seed Southern Mississippi used an 11-run inning sixth inning to defeat the No. 3-seeded University of South Alabama baseball team 14-2 in Friday's opening round of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional at Dick Howser Stadium.

Southern Miss (41-18) jumped out to a one-run lead in the bottom of the first inning. Jake Sandlin reached on a one-out single to right field, and moved to second with two outs on a balk by Hill. Chase Scott followed with an RBI double off the right-center field wall to score Sandlin with the game's first run.

USM doubled its lead in the bottom of the third. Tim Lynch reached on a one-out infield single, and moved to second on a two-out single through the left side of the infield by Daniel Keating. Hunter Slater followed with an RBI single back up the middle to plate Lynch for a 2-0 Golden Eagle lead. 

Southern Miss increased its lead to three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Tracy Hadley led off the inning with a single up the middle, stole second and moved to third on a groundout to shortstop by Nick Dawson. Dylan Burdeaux followed with an RBI groundout to shortstop to score Hadley for a 3-0 USM lead. 

South Alabama (40-21) looked to score its first run of the game in the top of the sixth when Travis Swaggerty attempted to score from second on a two-out single to left field by Cole Billingsley. But Slater fired to the plate to put out Swaggerty with the final out of the inning and preserve a three-run Golden Eagle advantage.

Southern Miss then extended its lead to 14 runs in the bottom of the sixth with an 11-run inning. Chuckie Robinson led off the inning with a solo home run to center field to push the USM lead to 4-0. The Golden Eagles then loaded the bases later in the inning for Lynch, who reached on a hit by pitch from USA left-hander James Traylor to score Dawson for a 5-0 Southern Miss lead. Scott then drew a walk from USA right-hander Mike Dolloff to score Burdeaux for a 6-0 USM advantage. Keating followed with an RBI single up the middle to plate Sandlin and increase the Golden Eagle lead to seven runs. Slater then delivered a two-run double to left field for a 9-0 USM lead. A two-out RBI single back up the middle by Hadley gave the Golden Eagles a 10-0 lead. A two-out, two-run triple by Dawson then pushed the USM lead to 12-0. Burdeaux followed with an RBI single to right field for a 13-0 Southern Miss advantage. A wild pitch from Jaguar left-hander Thomas Huston allowed Dawson to score the 14th USM run of the game later in the inning.

South Alabama pushed across its two runs of the contest in the top of the ninth. Ryan Raspino doubled to left field to lead off the inning, and scored one batter later on an RBI single back up the middle by Tanner Halstead. A single to right field by Carter Perkins loaded the bases with one out. A sacrifice fly by Danny Martinez later in the inning scored Halstead with the game's final run.

Southern Miss left-hander Kirk McCarty (8-1) tossed six shutout innings, and allowed three hits with four strikeouts to earn the win. McCarty was perfect through 4 2/3 innings, retiring the first 14 batters he faced in the game, before Brendan Donovan recorded the first Jaguar hit on a single to right field with two outs in the top of the fifth. USA right-hander Kevin Hill (8-2) allowed six runs on nine hits with one strikeout and two walks in 5 1/3 innings in the loss.

Gann went 2-for-4 with one double, and Donovan finished 2-for-3 to lead the Jaguars at the plate. Halstead added one hit, one RBI and one run scored. Keating went 3-for-5 with one RBI to lead the Golden Eagles offensively.

"Looking back at the game, it was 3-0 heading into the sixth (inning) and we felt pretty good," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "We hit five or six balls hard, and we had just gotten a guy thrown out at the plate. We had swung the bats. (USM starter) Kirk McCarty was really good, but we hit some balls hard; it wasn't like he was totally stuffing us. Even when (Chuckie) Robinson led off with the home run, we felt like the game was in reach. Things got a little bit sideways on us from there. We haven't really seen innings get sideways on us like that this year, but it did and it is part of the game. It is unfortunate, but our guys kept fighting and you have to credit Southern Miss; they took some walks, didn't give at-bats away and they were opportunistic. They did a really nice job; they put up a crooked number on us in the sixth and that was the ballgame. We knew we were facing a really good team; you can't give them too many opportunities. But it only counts as one loss, and we will re-group and be ready to go tomorrow."

USA will return to action Saturday when it faces the loser of No. 4 Alabama State and No. 1 Florida State in an elimination game at 11 a.m. (CT) at Dick Howser Stadium.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).