HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss baseball reigns supreme in Conference USA.

Daniel Keating drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the top of the eighth inning, and the Golden Eagles threw out the tying run at the plate for the final out to beat Rice 3-2 Sunday in the Conference USA Tournament championship game at Pete Taylor Park.

Southern Miss (40-18) won its first C-USA championship since 2010. It also earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years.

“If this was my last game to ever play here, I couldn’t ask for a better game, that’s for sure,” said senior first baseman Tim Lynch, who was third in a four-man, relay-play chain that caught Rice second baseman Grayson Lewis for the final out.

Rice had a remarkable 20-year streak come to an end. This is the first time since 1995 that the Owls have not won either their conference’s regular season or tournament championship.

Rice’s streak spanned three different leagues — the now-defunct Southwest Conference, the Western Athletic Conference and C-USA — and came inches from possibly being extended.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and runners on first and second, Dayne Wunderlich hit a ball to the gap in left center field. Tristan Gray scored easily to pull the Owls within a run, 3-2, and Lewis was waved home.

Southern Miss center fielder Jake Sandlin fielded the ball and threw to shortstop Nick Dawson, whose throw was cut off at the pitcher’s mound by Lynch. Lynch caught the ball, turned and fired the last 65 feet home to catcher Chuckie Robinson, who applied the tage to end the game.

As the umpire made the call, Robinson spiked the ball and his catcher’s mitt, and soon was part of a dogpile on the infield.

“Tim, being in the right spot at the right time, threw the ball to me, and we banged (Lewis),” Robinson said. “I was very surprised they sent him, but that’s Rice, though. Before the game, our coaches told us that they were very aggressive team on the bases, and we were prepared from the get-go.”

The Golden Eagles had six hits from six different players. Keating reached on an error in the fifth inning and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 1.

In the eighth, Keating was the hero again. With Lynch on second base and two outs, he doubled off the wall in left field to bring in the go-ahead run.

Storme Cooper had an RBI single in the ninth inning to put the Golden Eagles ahead 3-1.

Rice threatened in the bottom of the eighth inning, but stranded two runners when Sandlin made a running over-the-shoulder catch at the warning track on a fly ball hit by Ford Proctor.

Rice had 10 hits in the game.

“It’s a matter of inches,” Rice coach Wayne Graham said. “We hit the ball very well today and couldn’t find any gaps. They played well, but we couldn’t get them to fall. I thought we had a really good chance to win. We just couldn’t put numbers up on the board. We didn’t hit bad.”

After the ninth-inning drama, the Golden Eagles lingered on the field for more than 30 minutes savoring the moment and mingling with fans, family, friends and each other.

“That’s what I came here for,” Southern Miss right fielder Dylan Burdeaux said, “and we got it done.”

ON TV

Monday

11 a.m. ESPNU – NCAA Tournament Selection Show