Southern Miss pitcher Anthony DeWitt follows through on a delivery Tuesday night. DeWitt pitched eight innings to help the Eagles to a 6-3 win over Ole Miss in Jackson. (Jon GiffinThe Vicksburg Post)

[4/28/04]JACKSON One towering shot sent Southern Miss back in the right direction while digging Ole Miss deeper into the quicksand.

Jody Blount hit a three-run home run in the top of the sixth inning and the Golden Eagles beat the Rebels 6-3 in Tuesday night’s Magnolia Classic at Smith-Wills Stadium. No. 20 Southern Miss swept the three-game season series from No. 9 Ole Miss. The Golden Eagles had never swept a season series of two or more games from the Rebels in 30 previous tries.

“It’s been a long while, so it’s great,” Blount said. “We think we can compete with anybody in the nation, and we proved that tonight.”

The win also breaks a three-game losing streak for Southern Miss (31-11), which was swept by Tulane over the weekend.

“Our kids were a little down after Tulane, but beat a fine club tonight,” USM coach Corky Palmer said. “It’s just baseball. I don’t know how to explain why we played bad this weekend and we played good against Ole Miss.”

Ole Miss (31-12), however, is mired in a season-long, six-game losing streak that began with an 8-4 loss to USM on April 20.

“To lose six in a row, I don’t know if that’s happened since we’ve been here,” said Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco, who is in his fourth season in Oxford. “We’re certainly concerned. We have time, but we’ve got to start making a move and turning it around.”

Southern Miss pitcher Anthony DeWitt (7-2) bounced back from a miserable performance against Tulane on Saturday, in which he threw only 21 pitches and gave up six runs on four hits in one-third of an inning. DeWitt, who was fighting to keep his spot in the starting rotation, allowed three runs in eight innings with three strikeouts and no walks.

“In New Orleans, I was up in the zone a lot. I had to work really hard to get it down,” he said. “When I got the ball down (Tuesday), the sink started coming back to me, and it worked out well.”

Anthony Cupps (2-1), who made his first start of the season for the Rebels, was inconsistent for much of the game. He finished with four runs allowed, one earned, on six hits in five innings.

With USM down 2-1 in the fourth inning, Ryan Frith singled in a run to tie the game. With runners on first and third and no outs, Blount then grounded into a double play, but brought in a run.

“We were tied 2-2 and that put us ahead by one run, so it wasn’t all a bad deal,” he said. “It’s better than striking out and getting no runs.”

Cupps walked the first batter of the sixth inning and was replaced by Eric Fowler. Carlos Velasquez drew a walk, and Frith struck out to set the stage for Blount.

On a 2-0 pitch, he sat on a fastball and drove the ball over the left-center field wall, just under the scoreboard, to give USM a 6-2 lead.

Matt Tolbert doubled to drive in a run in the eighth, trimming the lead to 6-3 before Palmer went to his closer, Austin Tubb, for the final inning.

The sidearmer allowed singles to Cooper Osteen and Stephen Head. Charlie Babineaux came up with two outs and a chance to tie the game, but struck out swinging on three pitches.

“Tonight was a better night for us, offensively,” Bianco said. “I thought we swung the bats fairly well, but again not getting that big hit. You’ve got to get the big hit, and certainly it’s tough to win in college baseball with three runs.”

Palmer was pleased with his team’s win, but said he’s ready to get back to conference play, where USM is sitting in a tie for third in Conference USA.

“They’ve got a good club,” Palmer said of Ole Miss. “They’re going to be there at the end, and hopefully we will, too.”