PEARL – Ole Miss has had Southern Miss’ number lately.

That wasn’t the case on Tuesday night as the No. 19 Golden Eagles used two big innings to get past the No. 18 Rebels 6-2 at Trustmark Park in a midweek showdown of ranked teams.

This is just Southern Miss’ second win over Ole Miss in the last six meetings and fourth win in the last 11 matchups. The Rebels now lead the overall series 90-59.

“It was a good to get the three-run home run, but striking early was big because Ole Miss is a really good team,” said Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander. “Proud of our guys navigating it and fighting. On the mound it took several guys, but they did what it took to get the job done.” 

Southern Miss got things going in the bottom of the first has Jake Cook reached on a leadoff walk and scored Ozzie Pratt RBI double down the first base line. Pratt later scored on RBI single by Nick Monistere to left to extend the Golden Eagle lead to 2-0. Monistere extended his hitting streak to seven games.

Ole Miss tied the game 2-2 in the top of the third on a two-run triple by Mitchell Sanford. Sanford had two triples for the Rebels, while Campbell Smithwick also had two hits for Ole Miss (15-5).

The Golden Eagles tacked on four runs in the bottom of the fifth as Davis Gillespie hit a three-run home run into the bullpen in left field to give Southern Miss a 5-2 lead. Two batters later Cason Paetow delivered an RBI double down the right field line to extend the Southern Miss lead to 6-2. Gillespie was named the game’s most valuable player.

“I knew I had to get something in the air, and it was a good pitch,” Gillespie said. “Fortunately, I got it up in the air and the wind did its job. Last time those guys had our number on both sides, so tonight was a big statement game for us.”

Ole Miss had bases loaded in the top of the eighth with two outs but Southern Miss relief pitcher Colby Allen struck out Judd Utermark to end the inning.

The Rebels also loaded the bases in the top of the ninth with one out, but a grounder to third basemen Drey Barrett resulted in a double play to end the game.

Chandler Best (1-1) got the win on the mound in relief for the Golden Eagles, while Colby Allen got his fifth save of the season. 

“What it takes to win a baseball game, we had to do a lot of the little things right and tonight we did just enough,” Ostrander said. “The last time we played those guys we couldn’t have pitched any worse, and they took it to us. It was a hard-earned win and I’m just proud of the effort.”

Gunnar Dennis (1-1) took the loss on the mound for Ole Miss, which has now lost three straight games.

“We’re just not playing well. The crooked number in the middle of the game was a moment where we had to get off the field and offensively, we didn’t put good at-bats together,” said Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco. “We’ve got to prevent the big hit and the big inning, and we’ve got to do a better job on offense of where we set it up to have a big inning to finish it off.”

Both teams are on the road in conference play this weekend as Ole Miss travels to Missouri, while Southern Miss (15-6) travels to Louisiana-Monroe.