MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Southern Miss started its quest for a third consecutive Sun Belt conference tournament championship by setting a record.

Jake Cook and Ozzie Pratt each had two hits and three RBIs, JB Middleton turned in another outstanding pitching performance, and Southern Miss beat Texas State 9-1 in its opening game at the Sun Belt baseball tournament on Wednesday.

Southern Miss (41-13) set a school record with its 16th consecutive victory and advanced to face Old Dominion (22-29) in a winners’ bracket game Thursday at 4 p.m.

Texas State (27-30) will play Troy (37-20) in an elimination game Thursday at 9 a.m. All of the Sun Belt tournament games are streamed on ESPN+.

Middleton, who won the Ferriss Trophy as Mississippi’s top college baseball player on Monday, was stellar on the mound. He racked up 10 strikeouts in seven innings, while only walking one batter and striking out 10. He gave up five hits.

The Golden Eagles’ offense gave Middleton plenty of run support.

Carson Paetow hit a sacrifice fly and Joey Urban an RBI single to spot him a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Cook drove in a run with a fielder’s choice in the third, then belted a two-run home run in the fourth to make it 5-0.

Ozzie Pratt hit two RBI singles and Matthew Russo a sacrifice fly to round out the scoring.

Cook, Ben Higdon and Tucker Stockman all scored two runs for Southern Miss. Cook, Monistere, Stockman and Pratt had two hits apiece.