AUBURN, Ala. - Southern Miss (7-3) scored two in the first inning and six in the third to jump on Charleston Southern (4-5) early and never looked back as they took a 16-2 contest from the Bucs at Plainsman Park in the Auburn Invitational.

Connor Barron got things started for Southern Miss in bottom of the first with a base hit to left field. Buccaneer starter Ryan Gunther (0-3) then hit Michael Sterling with a pitch and Ashley Graeter followed with a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. Mason Robbins took advantage as he drilled a single to left scoring Barron and giving USM a 1-0 lead. The next batter, Blake Brown, would then plate Sterling with a sacrifice fly to the center field warning track making it 2-0. Gunther would strike out Ryan Ellis to get out of the inning.

CSU would scratch one across in the top of the fourth. Jaren Sustar, whose ten game hitting streak was halted on Sunday, started a new streak today with a single to the left field corner. John Faircloth then reached on an error by Barron, which sent Sustar to third. Brian Welch then scored Sustar from third with a sacrifice fly to left field, making the score 8-1 in favor of USM. Golden Eagle starter Jay Myrick (1-0) would get out of the jam by getting Alex Tomasovich to line out to the shortstop.

The Bucs had another shot to cut into the lead in the fifth when Harrison Wilkins walked then advanced to second on a passed ball. Myrick would then coax Blake Hunt into a pop up though, followed by an Ison groundout and a Sustar fly ball to right to get out of the jam.

Ward went a scoreless two and two thirds in relief for the Bucs allowing three hits and striking out one.

Chase Shelton would come on in relief to stop the bleeding for the Bucs in the sixth. Shelton struck out Dillon Day and got Chase Fowler to ground out to second. Two batters later he would get Issac Rodriguez to fly out and end the inning.

Charleston Southern would strike again in the seventh. Wilkins again drew a one out walk and was followed by a Denis Buckley pinch-hit single to center. The Bucs struck when pinch hitter Evan Still came thru with a double down the left field line that scored Wilkins. Buckley was thrown out at third on the play and Sustar followed with a groundout to second that ended the inning with CSU trailing 13-2.

Walt Quattlebaum, who went 2-for-4, led the Buccaneers at the plate. Ison also singled to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Gunther took the loss for Bucs and drops to 0-3 on the season.

Charleston Southern is back in action at the Auburn Invitational tomorrow when they play the Auburn Tigers. First pitch is schedule for 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time at Plainsman Park.