MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Interstat) — Southern Mississippi defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 11-7 on Sunday in the Sun Belt Baseball Championship. The Golden Eagles improved to 44-15, while the Ragin’ Cajuns fell to 38-23.

Seth Smith smacked a solo home run in the first inning, and Matthew Russo followed with a two-run homer to give Southern Mississippi a 3-0 lead. The Golden Eagles added two runs in the second on a two-run single by Urban and an RBI double by Gillespie. After Louisiana-Lafayette’s Donovan LaSalle homered in the third, Southern Mississippi answered with an RBI double by Long and an RBI single by Smith to go up 8-6. The Golden Eagles stretched the lead on a two-run single by Higdon in the fourth and an RBI double by Gillespie in the fifth.

Louisiana-Lafayette rallied in the ninth on a two-run homer by Lee Amedee and a three-run homer by Mark Collins, but the comeback fell short.

Southern Mississippi pitchers Grayden Harris allowed one earned run over three innings, and Kevin Farr and Thomas Crabtree each pitched a scoreless frame. For the Cajuns, reliever JR Tollett threw 4.2 scoreless innings.