RUSTON, La. – Euphoria. Jubilation. Victory.
 
On an 0-1 pitch with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, first baseman Manny Garcia blasted a walk-off, two-run homer off the dormitories beyond the left-field wall to secure a series split with Southern Miss on Sunday afternoon at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park. Garcia trotted around the turf diamond at the Love Shack full of joy, discarding his batting helmet as he rounded third base before being mobbed by his Diamond Dog teammates at home plate.
 
The Caguas, Puerto Rico native completed an incredible 4-for-4 performance at the plate in game two with two home runs and four RBI. The final swing of the entire weekend surpassed them all, helping the Bulldogs win 7-6 and move to 8-1 on "championship" Sundays in 2021.
 
Garcia just missed a walk-off blast in game one, flying out to the warning track in left field to end the first contest on Sunday. Presented with another opportunity in game two, he didn't miss.
 
"I just want to say, first things first, I didn't have a great game in the first game, but my teammates kept backing me up and kept giving me energy," Garcia said. "That last at-bat of the first game I thought I was close to getting one, and things happen.
 
"It's baseball. In the second game, my approach was feeling better. I was looking for a pitch to hammer, and I tried to do the most damage I could do to win the ballgame for us."
 
No. 13 LA Tech's 7-6 victory marks its third one-run victory over Southern Miss this season. Five of the eight regular-season matchups between the Bulldogs and Golden Eagles came down to a single run. Manny's two-run blast in the series finale on Sunday cemented a 5-3 advantage for the Diamond Dogs in the season series.
 
Southern Miss (23-12, 10-5 C-USA) secured a one-run victory of its own in game one, holding off a charging rally from the Diamond Dogs in the final frame to win 12-11. The high-scoring affair featured six half innings with three or more runs scored between the two offenses. An insurance run via a wild pitch in the top of the seventh proved to be the difference in game one.
 
"We played really well, and I didn't have a whole lot to say after game one," head coach Lane Burroughs said. "They're a really good team, and I wasn't disappointed.
 
"We never stopped fighting. In game two, Manny got it done. He just seems to keep getting big hit after big hit after big hit for us. He had a great summer, and he works hard. He never has a bad day. He loves playing this game."
 
LA Tech (26-9, 12-4 C-USA) is now 3-2 in one-run games against the Golden Eagles in 2021. The Bulldogs will continue their stretch of 28 straight games against Conference USA opponents when they host Marshall for a four-game series at the Love Shack starting on Friday.
 
Game 2 Recap: No. 13 LA Tech 7, Southern Miss 6
 
After No. 13 LA Tech's late rally fell short in game one, the Bulldogs' offense stayed hot in game two, scoring a run in each of the first three innings to build an early 3-1 lead over the Golden Eagles. The same starting lineup from Tech's shootout loss in game one stepped to the plate in game two, slugging its way 11 hits.
 
Southern Miss leadoff man Gabe Montenegro scored the game's opening run after advancing to third on a wild pitch and then jogging on home an additional 90 feet via a throwing error from the catcher. The man of the evening, Manny Garcia, quickly showed off his hot bat in game two with a game-tying RBI single to knot the contest at 1-1 in the first.
 
Designated hitter Ben Brantley put the Bulldogs in front in the second with a one-out single to left field, scoring Cole McConnell from second after the left fielder led off the inning with a double. Garcia then smashed his first homer of game two with a solo shot on the first pitch of his second at-bat, making it 3-1 Bulldogs in the third. All three of Tech's first three RBI came on 0-0 counts.
 
Southern Miss trimmed LA Tech's lead to 3-2 with a sacrifice fly from Reed Trimble in the fifth. The Bulldogs answered in the bottom half, posting a two spot on the scoreboard to make it 5-2 after five. Leadoff batter Taylor Young once again served as the catalyst for the Bulldog offense, coming home to score LA Tech's fourth run on a wild pitch after delivering a one-out single earlier in the frame. Right fielder Philip Matulia then did damage once again early in the count off USM pitching, lining a two-out RBI double down the left-field line to plate centerfielder Parker Bates from third base.
 
The Golden Eagles, however, would not go quietly, pushing across four runs in the sixth to take their first lead since the top of the first. Pinch hitter Slade Wilks smacked a game-tying three-run homer to knot the game at 5-5 before Danny Lynch smacked a two-out single to plate Dustin Dickerson for a 6-5 advantage.
 
A pair of zeros from both offenses in the bottom of the sixth and the top of the seventh then set the stage for Garcia's late-game heroics. In typical Bulldog rally fashion, Young opened the inning with an infield single to shortstop. Back-to-back flyouts then made the Bulldogs face their final out of the series.
 
Hard-throwing USM reliever Aubrey Gillentine started off Garcia with a breaking ball, putting him behind in the count 0-1. Gillentine then tried to power a fastball by the right-hot first baseman.
 
It didn't work.
 
Garcia timed it up, deposited it beyond the wall in left field and then trotted around the bases for the walk-off homer. The two-run blast made him the second Bulldog this season to hammer two home runs in the same game and the first since Young accomplished the feat in the season opener against Air Force at Alex Box Stadium.
 
Game 1 Recap: Southern Miss 12, No. 13 LA Tech 11
 
In a wild game one of Sunday's doubleheader, Southern Miss was able to hold off LA Tech's repeated attempts at offensive rallies to notch the 12-11 victory. After the Golden Eagles jumped ahead 5-0 in the first, LA Tech launched two home runs in the bottom half to cut USM's lead to 5-4. Centerfielder Parker Bates smashed a three-run shot to right center before Philip Matulia lined a homer over the wall in center field to make it a one-run ballgame after the first.
 
Southern Miss and LA Tech traded runs in four of the game's seven innings, posting just six scoreless team at-bats in the seven-inning contest. The Golden Eagles stretched their lead to 8-4 with three runs in the fourth, which centerfielder Reed Trimble capped off with a two-run single with one down in the frame.
 
Catcher Jorge Corona wasted no time in the bottom half, launching his first home run of the year on the inning's opening pitch to cut USM's lead to 8-5. Three more runs in the top of the fifth pushed USM's lead to its biggest total of the day, using a pair of singles to plate three more Golden Eagles to make it 11-5.
 
The Bulldogs, however, answered with a three spot of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Corona drove in his second run of the day with an RBI single before pinch hitter Shemar Page lined a two-out, two-RBI single to right field to cut the deficit to three.
 
A temporary pause in scoring occurred in the sixth before a wild pitch scored what turned out to be the game-winning run in the top of the seventh. Pinch runner Brady Faust scored on the wild pitch to make it 12-8 Southern Miss entering the bottom of the seventh.
 
With two outs in the inning, LA Tech manufactured three runs to draw the game within a single run at 12-11. Leadoff batter Taylor Young laced a double down the left-field line to cut the USM lead to 12-9. Hunter Wells, who extended his hitting streak to 20 games earlier in game one, then singled on a 1-2 pitch to drive in two more LA Tech runs.
 
Southern Miss closer Garrett Ramsey then entered with a runner on first and two away. Bates lined a single off the USM closer on a 1-2 pitch to put a runner in scoring position for Manny Garcia. Unlike in the series finale, Garcia's hack sailed just short of a walk-off home run as the first baseman flied out to the warning track on a 0-0 pitch.