Joseph Sullivan homered and drove in three runs as South Alabama outslugged Troy 12-8 in the opener of a three-game Sun Belt Conference series at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy on Friday night.

The victory snapped a 4-game losing streak for the Jaguars, who are now 13-9 overall, 1-3 in the Sun Belt. The Trojans fall to 15-8, 2-2.

Starting pitcher Carson Swilling (3-1) gave the Jaguars six strong innings on Friday, allowing three runs on five hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. South Alabama led 6-3 when he exited the game, and eventually pushed that advantage to 7-3 on Sullivan’s solo homer in the seventh.

But Troy rallied, scoring three runs off the South Alabama bullpen in the bottom of the eighth to cut the Jaguars’ lead to 7-6. Kole Myers singled home a run and Ethan Kavanaugh doubled home two before South Alabama reliever Seth Carter got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.

The Jaguars padded their lead with five runs in the top of the ninth, including Sullivan’s RBI single, Micah Morgan’s run-scoring double and Jacob Haley’s two-run homer. It was the first career homer for Haley, a freshman making his first appearance for South Alabama after being injured in the preseason.

Troy got two runs off Carter in the bottom of the ninth on Blake Sutton’s two-run homer, but could not rally further. The Trojans finished with 11 hits, including Brooks Bryan’s three-run homer in the first.

Carter picked up the save for South Alabama, working 1 2/3 innings with three strikeouts. Logan Ross, the second of five Troy pitchers, took the loss to fall to 2-1.

The series continues with Game 2 at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.