HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Teams can come back from one big inning early in a game. Back-to-back big innings make comebacks less of a certainty.
 
The Northwestern State baseball team found itself in the latter situation Saturday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field as Southern Miss batted around in both the third and fourth innings, setting the tone for a 15-5 Golden Eagles victory.
 
"They can really hit, and they're feeling it right now," fourth-year head coach Lane Burroughs said. "Their first six guys are really tough outs. We didn't dominate a couple of average plays. You can't do that against a good team, especially a team that can hit the way they can."
 
After Jeffrey Stovall (1-1) worked out of a jam in the first inning and posted a 1-2-3 second inning, Southern Miss (6-0) sent 11 batters to the plate in a seven-run third inning.
 
The Golden Eagles loaded the bases with nobody out before Tim Lynch shot a two-run single into right field. Taylor Braley followed with a three-run home run to left field to make it 5-0.
 
Northwestern State (3-3) answered with a two-run fourth inning that included David Fry's second home run of the season, a solo shot  to left field with one out. A two-out single by Nick Heath brought home another run and appeared to put the Demons in position to make it a game.
 
The Golden Eagles made sure Northwestern State could not capitalize on that momentum.
 
Lynch again spoiled the Demons' plans, cracking a two-run home run in the fourth as the first three batters of the inning reached base and six of the first seven scored.
 
Southern Miss took advantage of a two-out error to add two unearned runs in the inning.
 
The Demons found their offense late, scoring multiple ninth-inning runs for the second straight game.
 
Fry drove in his second run of the game with a double while freshman Kyle Swanson delivered a sacrifice fly for his first collegiate RBI and Kelsey Richard singled home a run with two outs.
 
The Demons collected double-figure hits for the second straight game, marking the first time that has happened in 2016.
 
"I think our offense is fine," Burroughs said. "We hit the ball hard. Matt Valdez hit two screamers and has nothing to show for it. If we keep hitting the ball hard, we're going to be fine."
 
Fry, Matthew Alford and Heath all had two-hit games for Northwestern State, while Daniel Keating (3 hits), Nick Dawson, Jake Sandlin, Lynch and Robinson all had multi-hit games for the Golden Eagles.
 
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday with Demons left-hander Chase Hymel (1-0, 5.40) opposing Southern Miss left-hander Kirk McCarty (0-0, 7.20).
 NSU       000 200 003 – 5 10 2
Southern Miss   007 600 02x – 15 15 2
W – Jake Winston (1-0). L – Jeffrey Stovall (1-1). 2B – NSU, Cort Brinson, David Fry, Matthew Alford 2, Nick Heath, Braedon Barrett. USM, Jake Sandlin, Chase Scott. HR – NSU, David Fry (2). USM, Tim Lynch (3), Taylor Braley (4), Claudio Rubiera (2). Highlights: NSU, Fry 2-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBIs; Alford 2-3, 2 2Bs; Heath 2-3, 2B, RBI. USM, Jake Sandlin 2-4; Lynch 2-5, HR, 4 RBIs; Braley HR, 3 RBIs; Chuckie Robinson 2-4, Rubiera HR, 2 RBIs; Daniel Keating 3-5, RBI; Nick Dawson 2-5, 2 RBIs.
Records: Northwestern State 3-3; Southern Miss 6-0.