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Southern Miss' Davis Gillespie, left, celebrates with his teammates after hitting a three-run home run against Ole Miss on Tuesday. Southern Miss won, 6-2. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

A young Southern Miss baseball fan cheers for his team during Tuesday's game against Ole Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl. Southern Miss won, 6-2. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Southern Miss' Ben Higdon bats against Ole Miss. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Ole Miss' Mitchell Sanford rounds second base on his way to third with a triple during Tuesday's game against Southern Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Ole Miss' Mitchell Sanford celebrates at third base after hitting a two-run triple Tuesday against Southern Miss at Trustmark Park in Pearl. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Ole Miss pitcher Will McCausland delivers against Southern Miss. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Southern Miss pitcher Matthew Adams walks back to the dugout at the end of an inning against Ole Miss Tuesday at Trustmark Park. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco (5) talks to first baseman Will Furniss (36) during a mound visit in Tuesday's game against Southern Miss. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander walks back to the dugout during Tuesday's game against Ole Miss at Trustmark Park. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Southern Miss pitcher Matthew Adams delivers during Tuesday's game against Ole Miss (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Ole Miss pitcher Gunnar Dennis delivers against Southern Miss. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Ole Miss' Hayden Federico rounds third base during Tuesday's game against Southern Miss. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Southern Miss' Jake Cook swings at a pitch against Ole Miss. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Southern Miss' Ozzie Pratt swings at a pitch against Ole Miss. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Ole Miss' Brayden Randle swings at a pitch against Southern Miss. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

Ole Miss pitcher Cade Townsend throws during Tuesday's game against Southern Miss. (Wyatt Mason/For The Vicksburg Post)

PEARL — Southern Miss pulled even for the season with Mississippi’s Southeastern Conference powers.

Davis Gillespie hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning, and Carson Paetow added an RBI double three batters later, and Southern Miss rode the two big hits to a 6-2 victory over Ole Miss Tuesday at Trustmark Park.

Southern Miss (15-6) split its two-game series with both Ole Miss (15-5) and Mississippi State this season. Ole Miss beat the Golden Eagles 15-8 in Oxford on Feb. 25.

The teams traded two-run rallies early before Southern Miss took control. Ozzie Pratt hit an RBI double and scored on Nick Monistere’s single to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, and then Mitchell Sanford hit a two-run triple in the third to tie it for Ole Miss.

Southern Miss’ bullpen took it from there. Starter Matthew Adams and four relievers, including former Warren Central star Brooks Willoughby, did not allow a run over the last six innings.

Chandler Best, who faced one batter to get out of a jam in the fifth inning, was credited with the win. Josh Och had three strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings, and Colby Allen worked the last 1 1/3 for his first save of the season.

Willoughby hit the only batter he faced, in the top of the eighth inning.

The four relievers allowed two hits and three walks, and struck out four in 4 1/3 innings.

Pratt finished 2-for-4 with one RBI to lead Southern Miss at the plate. Leadoff batter Jake Cook reached base three times and scored twice.

Sanford was 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Ole Miss, while Campbell Smithwick had two hits and scored a run.

Ole Miss will be back in action Friday at 6 p.m., on the road at SEC rival Missouri.

Southern Miss will also go on the road for the second weekend of the Sun Belt Conference season, when it starts a three-game series at Louisiana-Monroe Friday at 6 p.m.

Mississippi State 16, Jackson State 3
Reed Stallman went 2-for-3 with a double, home run, three RBIs and two runs scored to lead Mississippi State (14-7) to a run-rule victory over Jackson State (12-7) on Tuesday.

Stallman hit a three-run home run in the first inning to kick off a seven-run rally. Joe Powell added another three-run homer in the fourth inning as the Bulldogs took a 13-0 lead before Jackson State finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning.

Joseph Eichelberger hit an RBI single and scored on a two-run double by Wilbert Perez for Jackson State.

Eleven players had a hit for Mississippi State. Five MSU pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts and only walked one batter.

Mississippi State will go to Oklahoma for an SEC series beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m. Jackson State will host Bethune-Cookman in a three-game Southwestern Athletic Conference series starting Friday at 6 p.m.

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