Southern Miss earned its second consecutive sweep, rounding out a mostly successful weekend of college baseball for Mississippi’s major programs.

The No. 12 Golden Eagles (10-1), fresh off a mercy-rule victory over Alabama, exited a hostile Louisiana Tech environment with three straight wins versus a former conference counterpart. Christian Ostrander’s crew won 8-3 on Friday, cruised to an 11-0 run-rule victory through seven innings on Saturday, and was on the good side of a 6-2 scoreboard in Sunday’s finale.

A three-run bomb by Kyle Morrison in the top of the fourth of Friday’s game put the black and gold up 5-3, and solid pitching carried the team the rest of the way. A six-run top of the fourth of Saturday’s game, in part due to a Matthew Russo 2 RBI single, broke a scoring stalemate and fueled Southern Miss to a win in a shortened matchup. A two-run long ball by Joey Urban in the top of the ninth of Sunday’s battle gave the Golden Eagles a buffer that would not be eclipsed.

Kros Sivley (2-0) was Friday’s winning pitcher after logging a pair of strikeouts in 1.2 innings. Grayden Harris (2-0) got the win on Saturday after fanning five batters and surrendering no runs through six complete innings. Camden Sunstrom (1-0) closed out the finale with the win after striking out two batters and not giving up a hit or a run in the final two frames.

Mississippi State wins two in Texas

The No. 4 Bulldogs (11-1) had a solid weekend in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series. Brian O’Connor’s club handled the weekend test with an 8-4 win over Arizona State, a 15-8 victory over Virginia Tech, and a heartbreaking 8-7 extra-innings loss to No. 1 UCLA.

Mississippi State broke a scoring hiatus on Friday with a strong bottom of the fifth. A Bryce Chance RBI single scored the game’s first run, then a Gehrig Frei homer put the Bulldogs up 4-0. Three insurance runs were added in the next offensive frame, and Mississippi State did not look back. On Saturday, an Ace Reece longball gave the maroon and white a 4-0 lead in the top of the second. Virginia Tech chipped away, cutting the deficit to two runs, until a five-run top of the seventh put things out of reach.

Sunday’s finale was a battle between two teams vying for bragging rights as the nation’s best. The Bruins took an early 3-0 lead, but Mississippi State quickly countered. A two-run bomb by Reed Stallman and an RBI double by Ryder Woodson knotted things up 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth. The Bulldogs added a run in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings to lead 5-3.

A two-out home run by UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky tied the ballgame in the top of the ninth. Mississippi State, with runners on second and third and no outs in the bottom of the ninth, could not send a runner home. A wild pitch and a 2 RBI triple scored three Bruins in the top of the 10th. Stallman hit his second home run of the day to inch the Bulldogs within one run of their foe, but it was not followed up with more scoring.

Winning pitchers for Mississippi State this weekend were Ryan McPherson (2-0) and Tomas Valincius (3-0), while Ben Davis (0-1) was tabbed with the lone loss.

Ole Miss struggles in neutral-site tournament

In its first set of tests versus power conference opponents, the Rebels (10-2) struggled mightily, dropping two of three outings in the BRUCE BOLT College Classic. Mike Bianco’s club fell to Baylor 6-5 in extra innings on Friday before bouncing back on Saturday in an 8-0 win over Ohio State and suffering a 9-2 loss to Coastal Carolina in Sunday’s finale. Ole Miss was a combined 0-18 at the plate with runners in scoring position in the two losses.

Though the weekend didn’t play to the Rebels’ advantage, a few individual performers stood out. Murray State transfer Dom Decker, who entered his junior campaign without hitting a home run, hit three balls over the outfield wall at the Houston Astros’ Daikin Park. Hunter Elliott had a career-high 11 strikeouts on Friday, while Cade Townsend and Taylor Rabe collectively fanned 16 batters in Saturday’s shutout.

Next up

Southern Miss will play a pair of home midweek games, the first being against Mississippi State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and the second versus Nicholls on Wednesday at 6 p.m., before hosting North Alabama over the weekend.

Mississippi State will host Lipscomb over the weekend after facing the Golden Eagles.

Ole Miss will host Memphis on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and North Alabama on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., before welcoming Evansville for a weekend series.