The Golden Eagles (6-1) are leaving Round Rock, Texas, with a weekend sweep.
Southern Miss opened the event with a dramatic 5-4 walk-off victory over the Purdue Boilermakers baseball at Dell Diamond.
Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Drey Barrett then delivered the game-winner, ripping a double into the left-center gap to score Gillespie and secure the Golden Eagles’ fourth straight win.
Purdue struck first with a run in the opening inning, but Southern Miss answered with a four-run fourth. Barrett walked to lead off the frame, and Kyle Morrison followed with a single before a failed pickoff moved both runners into scoring position. Tucker Stockman tied the game with a sacrifice fly, Seth Smith added an RBI double, Joey Urban contributed another sac fly, and Matthew Russo capped the inning with a run-scoring double.
The Boilermakers rallied for three runs in the eighth, highlighted by a Trey Swiderski homer and a two-run single from Westin Boyle to even the score. Southern Miss pitching escaped bases-loaded jams in the sixth and ninth, and Camden Clark recorded the final four outs to earn the win.
The Golden Eagles carried that momentum into Saturday night, knocking off No. 11 Oregon State Beavers baseball 9-4 in their first-ever meeting.
Urban led the offense with three hits and four RBIs, including an opposite-field home run in the first inning. Southern Miss starter Grayden Harris was dominant early, striking out six of the first eight batters he faced. Oregon State briefly took a 3-1 lead in the fourth on a two-run homer by Jacob Krieg, but Harris settled in and finished with eight strikeouts while allowing three runs, two earned.
The Golden Eagles regained control in the sixth. Urban tripled and scored on a Russo single before Gillespie launched a go-ahead two-run homer to left. Southern Miss broke it open in the seventh, as Urban drove in two more runs with a single and Gillespie added a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 7-3.
Camden Sunstrom was outstanding in relief, tossing four innings and allowing just one unearned run to secure his first career save as Southern Miss won its fifth straight game.
The Golden Eagles closed the weekend against the Baylor Bears baseball on Sunday at Dell Diamond. Southern Miss once again combined timely hitting with steady pitching, building an early lead and leaning on its bullpen to shut the door late.
In mid-week action, the Golden Eagles defeated Alabama 14-4 Tuesday night at home. USM returns to the road to Ruston, La., to face Louisiana Tech in a three-game weekend series. The first game of the set is on Friday at 6 p.m.
