Christian Talley allowed one run over six innings and Southern Miss exploded for six runs in the fifth to capture a season-opening victory over Murray State on Friday, 7-4.

After surrendering a solo home run in the first to Tyler Lawrence, Talley settled down and kept the visitors off the board for the remainder of his outing.

Talley fanned 11 batters, including seven of the last eight he faced, and gave up five hits and just one walk to collect the victory in his first opening day start for the Golden Eagles.

“I think that shows his maturity,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “If you’re going to give up a home run, you want to give it up early. He settled in and gave his team an opportunity to get back in the ball game. That’s how Christian is.”

Southern Miss tied the score in the fourth on Dylan Burdeaux’s solo homer that hit high off the billboard in left field. Burdeaux had three of the Golden Eagles’ 11 hits in the contest and drove in a pair of runs.