South Alabama more than two years of baseball frustration vs. Southern Miss on Sunday, winning 8-6 at Stanky Field to take the finale of a three-game series and snap a seven-game losing streak vs. its Sun Belt Conference rival.

Will Turner reached base five times and scored four runs to lead the offensive attack for the Jaguars, who had 10 and walked six times. South Alabama (17-15, 4-8 Sun Belt) scored the go-ahead runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and held on against a Golden Eagles team that pounded out 15 hits.

Five South Alabama relievers — Mitchell Heer, John Michael Gillis, Logan Wash, Gant Starling and Grant Wood — combined to hold Southern Miss (20-12, 8-4) to just one run in the final six innings. The victory came after the Golden Eagles won the last two of three over the Jaguars in 2022, swept them in Hattiesburg in 2023 and won the first two games of this series, 6-5 in 11 innings on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday.

“We had our backs against the wall,” South Alabama coach Mark Calvi said. “But we got some big hits against a good pitcher today. And we were good out of the (bullpen), really good out of the ‘pen.

“… I thought our guys just showed a lot of courage and great bounce back, especially after a heartbreaker Friday night. Arguably, you have that game and make a couple of mistakes and leave it out there and then get beat (Saturday). So credit to our guys and our coaches for bouncing back and playing and coaching hard.”

Both starting pitchers allowed five runs in three innings of what looked for a while would be a slugfest on a sunny but windy day in Mobile. Southern Miss got back-to-back RBI doubles by Ozzie Pratt and Slade Wilks off Leif Moore in the first to go on top 2-0, but South Alabama answered with three in the bottom of the inning vs. Will Armistead on Lucas Ismaili’s two-run triple and Micah Morgan’s RBI squeeze bunt — with Ismaili sliding around the tag at home plate to give the Jaguars the lead.

Southern Miss tied it in the third when South Alabama shortstop Ty Brooks lost Carson Paetow’s pop-up in the sun with two outs, allowing Pratt to score from second. The Jaguars again played “small ball” in the bottom of the third to go up 5-3.

After Turner led off with a clean single to right, Brennan Holt, Morgan and Melton reached first on consecutive bunt hits. The latter two were squeeze plays, with Turner and Holt scoring to put South Alabama up by two.

“We did what we had to do,” Calvi said. “We haven’t been a juggernaut offensively; we all know what. So when we get some guys in scoring position, I told the guys, it doesn’t matter who it is … if we’ve got to put a bunt down, we’re going to put a bunt down and get 90 feet closer to home plate.”

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Southern Miss again tied it in the fifth, when Dalton McIntyre and Pratt delivered back-to-back RBI hits. McIntyre — the Sun Belt’s leader in batting average at .422 after Sunday — went 3-for-5 on Sunday, making him 10-for-15 for the weekend.

South Alabama took the lead right back at 6-5 after three straight walks and Melton’s RBI single in the fourth, but Southern Miss answered with Paetow’s RBI single off Jaguars reliever John Michael Gillis in the sixth to tie the game again. That would be the only run charged to the South Alabama bullpen on Sunday, as Gillis, Wash, Starling and Wood limited the Golden Eagles to three baserunners over the final three innings.

Turner led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, took third on a flyout and scored on Holt’s single through the drawn-in infield. Holt later scored on a triple to right-center by Melton, who was 3-for-4 with three RBIs on Sunday.

“I was just trusting myself, trying to be aggressive early in the count and jump on pitches in the zone,” said Turner, who went 0-for-9 with a walk in the first two games of the series before going 3-for-3 with a walk and hit-by-pitch Sunday. “It worked out today. … This game is tough, man. It will try to get the best of you. It’s been a struggle, but I’m just trusting my process and trying barrel balls up. I knew they were going to fall today, so I’m happy about that.”

Southern Miss put a runner on first with two outs in the seventh, but Wash struck out McIntyre to end the inning. Pratt led off the Golden Eagles eighth with a single and took second on a wild pitch, but Wash struck out Wilks, then Starling fanned Butler and Paetow.

Wood walked Nick Monistere with one out in the ninth, but left him stranded after getting Matthew Russo to pop up in foul ground and then striking out fellow pinch-hitter Braden Luke to close out his sixth save. Gillis (1-0) was credited with the win after allowing a run on three hits in 1 2/3 innings.

To Calvi, however, the key moment was Wash’s strikeout of McIntyre in the seventh. Pratt was waiting on deck, 3-for-3 with two doubles at that point.

“Wash came in and punched out McIntyre,” Calvi said. “That kid doesn’t strike out much. He’s the best player in the league right now and he’s a tough out. But Wash die a heck of a job coming in with the game on the line. Really the game was on the line all day, but there are certain moments where it was more ‘on the line’ and that was one of them.”

JB Middleton, the third of four Southern Miss pitchers, took the loss after allowing two runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings. Chase Adams also allowed a run in 1/3 inning, before Cole Boswell held the Jaguars scoreless over the final two.

South Alabama travels to Alabama at 6 p.m. Tuesday, then hosts Arkansas State in a three-game Sun Belt series beginning Friday.