Southern Miss defeated South Alabama 7-5 Tuesday after six consecutive losses to the Jaguars that dated back to 2019.

The Golden Eagles trailed 5-2 until Danny Lynch scored on a Will McGillis groundout. In the next at-bat, Carson Paetow hit a towering two-run home run to tie the game at five. 

“They’d beaten us six straight, and that’s been the talk every time we get ready to play them. [It felt good] to get our monkey off our back and how we did it with being down 5-2,” Head Coach Scott Berry said.

“It felt really good to put our team back in the game. It definitely sparked the energy in the dugout, and it helped us win the game,” Paetow said. “We [have] good team chemistry going. [It feels good] to finally pull something together against that team. It’s a hard win, and we worked hard.”

Paetow’s game-tying home run certainly helped, but the bullpen – particularly Dalton Rogers and Landon Hall – was the story of the game.

When Rogers entered in the fifth inning, the Golden Eagles trailed 5-2. Rogers allowed only one hit and retired nine straight before eventually being pulled from the game.

Rogers gained his first win of the season, and Harper recorded his second save.

“It was electric for me just having our team behind us and being able to throw strikes to keep our team in the game,” Rogers said. “Paetow having a big hit, and Dustin [Dickerson] putting up a big leadoff run helped. The fastball and changeup was working, and it allowed me to keep the team in the game.”

“[It was good] for our guys to dominate out of the pen like Dalton Rogers did and Landon [Harper]. Those guys were just really, really good tonight, and they enabled us to get a couple more runs and hold the lead,” Berry said.

Dickerson led the Golden Eagles in hits, going three-for-four with three singles. Southern Miss had nine hits on the night in total.

While the bullpen and offense did well for the most part, the Golden Eagles made its fair share of mistakes with three errors and 11 men left on base, including the game being bookended by Southern Miss stranding the bases loaded.

“It wasn’t one of our better games, but I’d much rather win ugly than lose pretty. Both teams played sloppy. The conditions were tough, and I’m really proud of our guys,” Berry said. “We just found a way. They were determined to win this baseball game. No matter how many times we shot ourselves in the foot, we were able to bounce back and put ourselves in position to win.”

Rogers and Berry noted how important this victory as the Golden Eagles remain in the middle of a difficult 13-game stretch.

“I’d rather be winning and have momentum going than trying to figure out how to get that momentum back after losing. I think with each win, you wake up the next day and you feel a lot better than you did [before],” Berry said.

“[This] was definitely a momentum builder. We have a big game against Tulane tomorrow [with them] coming here, and we’re ready to move on,” Rogers said.

Southern Miss advances to 9-2 on the season and they host Tulane Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Pete Taylor Park.