Southern Miss slowed down Conference USA’s juggernaut and sped off with the league championship.

The Golden Eagles scored four runs in the top of the first inning, and Todd McInnis and Scott Copeland kept Rice’s high-octane offense in check long enough to scratch out a 7-4 victory in the C-USA Tournament championship game Saturday night.

The Golden Eagles (35-22) avenged a loss to Rice (38-21) in last season’s C-USA final and earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament — their eighth in a row. It is USM’s second C-USA title overall and first since 2003.

Rice had crushed its first three tournament opponents by a total of 53-6. It had scored at least 11 runs in all three games, but couldn’t do much against the effective tag team of McInnis and Copeland.

McInnis gave up four runs on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings. Three runs came in the fifth inning, when Michael Ratterree hit a two-run double and scored on Jimmy Comerota’s single to cut USM’s lead to 5-4.

After McInnis walked Michael Fuda to put runners at first and second, Copeland came on in relief and slammed the door. He struck out Steven Sultzbaugh to get out of the jam, then threw four more scoreless innings to earn the victory.

Copeland, who went eight innings and thew 106 pitches in USM’s tournament opener on Wednesday, allowed no runs, no hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three and improved to 10-0 on the season.

After the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first, B.A. Vollmuth hit a solo homer to lead off the fifth for what turned out to be the winning run. Taylor Walker’s RBI single in the sixth and an unearned run in the seventh padded the lead.