LORMAN — Needing six wins in six games and some help from Alabama State, Alcorn State (26-11, 13-7) got things going in the right direction with a sweep of Eastern Division leader Jackson State (33-18, 17-5).

The Braves won Game 1 by the score of 7-3 and defeated the Tigers 10-7 in Game 2.

Alcorn again exploited it opponents pitching early and often scoring a combined 12 runs in the first inning of both games.

In the two victories, closer Lee Johnson was able to smother both rallies collecting saves five and six on the season.

Georgia 5, Mississippi 4

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Gordon Beckham homered and Trevor Holder combined with two relievers to beat Mississippi 5-4 on Friday night.

The Bulldogs (30-14-1 overall, 16-5-1 Southeastern Conference) jumped on Rebels’ starter Lance Lynn (6-2) for three runs in the second inning, including Matt Cerione’s two run double. Zach Miller had given Ole Miss (30-18, 11-11) a 1-0 lead with a homer in the top of the second.

Beckham hit his homer in the third. Ole Miss rallied and tied the game 4-4 in the fifth on Fuller Smith’s solo homer.

Bryce Massanari’s RBI single in the fifth for Georgia proved to be the winning run.

Holder improved to 7-2. Josh Fields picked up the save.

Auburn 11, Mississippi State 4

AUBURN, Ala. — A four-run fourth inning broke open a tight ballgame, as Auburn turned back Mississippi State 11-4 in Southeastern Conference baseball action Friday night.

Auburn freshman left-hander Grant Dayton struck out a career-high 12 Bulldogs as the homestanding Tigers cruised to victory after breaking that 1-1 tie in the home half of the fourth inning.

With the victory, Auburn improved to 25-22 overall and 9-13 in league play, while MSU fell to 18-27 and 6-16.

Marshall 16, Southern Miss 10

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — The Southern Miss’ hitters could not overcome the early deficit the Golden Eagles pitchers put the team in as they suffered a 16-10 loss at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, West Virginia in the opening game of a three game series at Marshall.

By the end of the fourth inning Marshall led the Golden Eagles 14-2, though the Golden Eagles would attempt to rally the early deficit was too much to overcome. Southern Miss started slow but scored in final six innings to put their 10 runs on the board. Southern Miss scored their runs on 14 hits and two Marshall errors.

“We have to get off to a better start, we have feel behind a lot the past few games,” head coach Corky Palmer said. “We swung the bats pretty we after the rough start.”

Marshall scored four runs in the first inning, five runs in both the third and fourth innings, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the eighth.

Southern Miss starting pitcher Josh Billeaud (3-4) suffered the worst outing of his Southern Miss career allowing 14 runs on 13 hits in just 3.2 innings of work.