Southern Miss was cruising toward another lackluster offensive performance and another close loss Friday night — until the eighth inning.

The Golden Eagles scored four runs in the top of the eighth, then six more in the ninth to storm back from a four-run deficit and beat UAB 11-5.

The victory evened the series at a game apiece heading into this afternoon’s regular-season finale in Birmingham.

James Roney finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored, and Dillon Day was 4-for-5 with two runs scored for Southern Miss.

Ryan Ussery drove in a pair of runs in the first inning with a double for UAB, and Patrick Palmeiro hit a two-run homer in the fifth to give the Blazers a 5-1 lead.

USM scored in the top of the first, then not again until the eighth. Blake Brown’s two-run double and an RBI single by Joe Martin tied it at 5.

The Golden Eagles kept the momentum going in the ninth. Ashley Graeter put them ahead with an RBI triple, Roney delivered a bases-clearing double, and Martin had an RBI double.

“When you have a four-run lead in the eighth, you have to be able to win that game,” UAB coach Brian Shoop said. “But we had a leadoff walk in the eighth and a leadoff walk in the ninth and those often come back to bite you and they did tonight. Southern Miss deserves a lot of credit. They had 10 hits in the last two innings and kept coming and got on a roll and we were unable to stop them.”

UCF 8, Rice 6

Rice 9, UCF 2

Christian Stringer had two hits and scored three runs, Michael Fuda homered, and Rice (38-15, 16-7 C-USA) routed Central Florida 9-2 in the second half of a doubleheader. Central Florida won 8-6 in the opener, which was the completion of a game suspended by rain Thursday night.

Rice’s win in the nightcap set up a winner-take-all showdown for the C-USA regular-season championship today in Orlando. The teams have not been separated by more than two games in the standings at any point this season, and have been tied for the league lead 12 different times.Tulane 6, Marshall 5

Andrew Garner delivered a walk-off, RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift Tulane over Marshall.

The game-winning hit capped a big night for Garner. He was 3-for-6 with an RBI, double and two runs scored.

Former Vicksburg High star Bowen Woodson was 1-for-5 with an RBI for Tulane.

Marshall scored twice in the top of the ninth to tie it. Nathan Gomez went 2-for-5 with two RBIs for the Thundering Herd.

UAH 6, Delta St. 3

Blake Massey drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, Justin Riddle padded the lead with a two-run single in the seventh, and Alabama-Huntsville beat Delta State at the NCAA Division II South Regional in Tampa.

Michael Vinson, Jordan Chovanec, Sam Kidd and Tyler Aldridge each had two hits for Delta State, which will play an elimination game against West Florida today at 3:15 p.m.

MVSU 2, Southern 1

Trey Lacy allowed just two hits in seven innings, and Mississippi Valley State earned a berth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament championship game by beating Southern University.

Christopher Broadway pitched two innings of scoreless relief for Valley (17-38), which went 10-14 in the SWAC during the regular season but has won three straight games at the conference tournament.

The Delta Devils will face Texas Southern for the championship Sunday at 1 p.m. in Baton Rouge. That game will be televised on ESPNU.

Earlier Friday, Southern rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth to snap a tie and went on to eliminate defending tournament champion Alcorn State, 8-6.

TSU 11, JSU 1

Robert Pearson threw a one-hitter, and Texas Southern took advantage of seven errors committed by Jackson State to eliminate the Tigers from the SWAC Tournament.

Anthony Dilligard went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored for Texas Southern, and Jose Flores was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

S. Carolina 5, LSU 4

LSU 5, S. Carolina 2

Christian Walker belted a three-run home run during a four-run outburst in the bottom of the sixth inning, and South Carolina (39-14, 18-10 Southeastern Conference) went on to beat LSU 5-4 to earn a split of a doubleheader.

LSU (41-14, 18-11) won the first game, 5-2, behind a complete game from sophomore pitcher Kevin Gausman. The right-hander held the Gamecocks to five hits, walked two batters and struck out six while throwing his second consecutive complete game.