HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Missouri State's Brandt Thompson and Hunter Day limited Southern Miss to a run on five hits Saturday afternoon in a 3-1 victory over the Golden Eagles at Pete Taylor Park.

The Bears (4-2) evened the series after Thompson (1-0) struck out six in five innings before handing the game over to Day, who did not allow a hit over the final four frames for his second save of the season.

Southern Miss (5-2) scored its only run in the second inning, opening with a hit batter that worked around to score on a sacrifice fly, and the Bears took advantage of free passes with a hit batter and walk setting up a Nick Rodriguez two-out RBI single in the third inning for a 1-1 tie.

Missouri State loaded the bases with one out in the fifth and scored its second when Jahlani Rogers drew a walk, and Zack Stewart blasted a solo home run – his second of the series – on an 0-2 pitch with two down in the sixth for the final 3-1 margin.

Stewart scored twice and had two hits for the Bears, who had plenty of traffic on the bases thanks to drawing seven walks and being hit by pitches twice, though they did strand 12 total runners, including 11 over the first five innings.

The rubber match of the series is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.