Mississippi State closed out its season-long eight-game road trip with another complete performance Wednesday evening, using a big third inning and strong pitching from Delainey Everett and Raelin Chaffin in a 9-1, five-inning victory over Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.

Following a Sierra Sacco leadoff single, Nadia Barbary opened the scoring in the first with a two-run home run off the scoreboard in left-center field. The No. 18 Bulldogs (28-6) then sent 10 batters to the plate in the third, breaking the game open on a Morgan Bernardini two-run single and a Lexi Sosa two-run double. Bernardini drove in two more runs in the fourth on a hot smash through the third baseman, finishing with a career-high four RBI.

“It’s just a confidence booster. It all starts at the top of the lineup. Seeing Sierra and Nadia get on base, it’s easy. Hitting is contagious, so it’s just keeping it simple, passing the bat and keeping it loose,” Bernardini said. “I was just trying to get on top of the ball. I’ve been kind of flaring some and just missing under them. I’ve really been focusing on getting on top of the ball and hitting hard ground balls.”

MSU handed that early lead to Everett, who gave one run back on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first but worked scoreless innings in the second and third. She has not thrown a complete game all year — no one on the Bulldogs’ staff has except Chaffin, who has 11 — but she is becoming more comfortable as a starter in her sophomore season.

“It gives me a lot of leisure when I go back out there, knowing that the offense had my back,” Everett said. “That first inning was a little rough and I was out there for quite a bit, (so) knowing that they have my back, I’m going to go out there and have theirs too.”

Chaffin was a bit wilder than usual in her two innings of relief, issuing a leadoff walk in the fourth and allowing the Golden Eagles (16-17) to threaten again in the fifth with two on and one out. But she kept Southern Miss off the board and helped the Bulldogs shorten the game for their 11th run-rule win of the year.

Sacco, Barbary, Bernardini, Sosa and Morgan Stiles all had multi-hit games for an offense that is in the top 25 nationally in runs per game. Those bats will face possibly their toughest test yet upon returning to Nusz Park this weekend, as No. 1 Texas comes to Starkville with the eighth-best team ERA in the country. The Longhorns (32-2) are also batting .392 as a team, the top mark in Division I softball.

Five Texas starters are hitting above .400, led by Kayden Henry at .506, and Reese Atwood and Katie Stewart are the Longhorns’ big home run hitters. Texas’ pitching staff runs four deep, with Teagan Kavan, Citlaly Gutierrez, Cambria Salmon and Mac Morgan all capable of shutting offenses down. Few teams have managed to do that to MSU so far this season.

“Everyone in the lineup is contributing,” Bulldogs head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “There’s just a lot of confidence, and they do a great job of relaying what they’re seeing, what the plan is and any adjustments. We’re just having good team at-bats.”