Southern Miss took an emphatic step forward in its quest for the Conference USA regular-season championship.

The Golden Eagles hit five home runs — two of them by Matt Wallner — and crushed Louisiana Tech 16-1 in a game shortened to eight innings by Conference USA’s mercy rule.

Wallner finished with five RBIs, Hunter Slater went 3-for-5 with a homer, four RBIs and three runs scored, and Walker Powell allowed one run in seven innings for Southern Miss.

“(Friday), we missed out on opportunities, and (Saturday), we cashed in on them,” Southern Miss coach Scott Berry said. “(Saturday), we showed back up. The momentum, we had it the whole time.”

The victory moved Southern Miss (36-13, 20-5 Conference USA) within one victory of the C-USA regular-season championship. It leads Louisiana Tech (34-18, 17-9) by 3 1/2 games with four left, and can clinch the title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament with a win in Sunday’s series finale.
Sunday’s game will begin at 1 p.m. at Pete Taylor Park.

“It ought to be interesting,” said Southern Miss third baseman Luke Reynolds, who was 2-for-3 with three runs scored on Saturday. “We’re playing for a championship.”

After blowing a big lead on Friday night, the Golden Eagles matched their second-highest run total of the season. They scored in every inning except the fifth and finished with 16 hits. The only starter who did not have a hit was catcher Cole Donaldson.

The five home runs were also a season high.

Tanner Huddleston hit a solo home run in the second inning for Louisiana Tech’s only run. Powell allowed six hits total, no walks, and struck out six.

Reynolds got the scoring started for USM with a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. Casey Maack hit a solo shot in the second inning and Slater a three-run homer in the third to make it 5-1.

The Golden Eagles scored twice in the fourth inning, and then Wallner blasted a three-run home run to right center field in the sixth inning to push it to 10-1.

Wallner added a solo homer in the eighth inning as Southern Miss scored four times to close out the rout. USM batted around in the eighth inning and still has the bases loaded when Gabe Montenegro’s RBI single ended the game.