HATTIESBURG (AP) — Facing a full count with two down and the bases loaded in the third inning, Southern Miss senior Jake Sandlin put a perfect cut on a fastball, flicked his bat aside and watched the ball soar high into the pine trees above the right field fence Thursday night.

Sandlin knew “100 percent” when the ball left his bat that he had hit his second home run in as many nights at Pete Taylor Park, and Southern Miss soon had the same number of wins.

Sandlin’s grand slam was part of a five-run third inning that propelled the Golden Eagles to a 9-3 win over Marshall on Thursday and into the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament.

“On a scale of one to 10, I hit it about a 12,” said Sandlin, who also doubled and scored a run in the first inning. “I don’t think I’m going to hit one better than that anytime soon. Yeah, I got it.”

Southern Miss put together its second consecutive thrashing of an opponent to start the Conference USA Tournament and is now one win away from the championship game.

The Golden Eagles (38-18) will sit and watch two elimination games today, and then face the survivor of the matchup between Florida International and Marshall (33-20) on Saturday.

Southern Miss will play at 12:30 p.m. Saturday and must lose twice to be eliminated. If it loses the first game, it’ll play again at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s huge for the whole team,” USM catcher Chuckie Robinson said of getting Friday off. “We can get off our feet, catch a game or two and rest for Saturday.”

USM can help its chances of hosting an NCAA regional with a C-USA tournament title, and it has been the most impressive team so far at Pete Taylor Park this week.

After hitting three homers in a 17-5 win over Old Dominion on Wednesday, USM again relied on the long ball with a pair on Thursday. The big blast was by Sandlin, while Robinson added a solo homer in the fifth.

Southern Miss totaled 10 hits on Thursday after pounding out 17 on Wednesday.

“They’re locked in,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “They’re getting pitches to hit and they’re not taking them and they’re not missing them for the most part.”

Marshall jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with Aaron Bossi and Tyler Ratliff both knocking in runs.

The Eagles answered by batting around in the bottom of the inning. Tracy Hadley grounded out with the bases loaded to produce the first run. Two batters later, Robinson singled down the right field line to bring in two more runs.

Robinson finished 2-of-3 with three RBIs. He has 20 RBIs in May and 43 this season.

“I thought both starters came out and were overthrowing,” Marshall coach Jeff Waggoner said. “They had some pitches up in the zone. Five runs were scored in the first inning, but their guy settled in and they put some good swings on the ball.”

CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT

Thursday

Louisiana Tech 13, Charlotte 3

FIU 3, Old Dominion 1

Rice 6, Fla. Atlantic 4, 10 innings

Southern Miss 9, Marshall 3

Friday

3 p.m. – Louisiana Tech vs. FAU

6:30 p.m. – FIU vs. Marshall

Saturday

9 a.m. – Rice vs. La. Tech or Florida Atlantic

12:30 p.m. – Southern Miss vs. Fla. International or Marshall

Sunday

1 p.m. – Championship game