By the end of the first inning, after it was clear starter Todd McInnis “didn’t have it,” Southern Miss’ Collin Cargill was in his coach’s ear to get in the game.

Never mind that Cargill has been the Golden Eagles’ closer all season.

“I felt comfortable,” Cargill said. “I was ready to go.”

The persistent pestering and a pesky Jacksonville State lineup prompted coach Scott Berry to heed Cargill’s wishes, as he sent the right-hander to the mound in Saturday’s second inning. That’s where he’d remain the rest of the game, limiting the Gamecocks to one more run while the offense behind him didn’t relent in the Golden Eagles’ 19-6 victory.

Southern Miss advances in the losers’ bracket and will play the loser of Saturday night’s Auburn-Clemson game today at 1 p.m. Jacksonville State’s season is over largely because its offense vanished once Cargill stepped on the mound.

“Today we just kind of got steamrolled,” Jacksonville State coach Jim Case said. “We couldn’t stop them from scoring.”

Yes, the Golden Eagles roped three, three-run home runs and scored more than two runs in six different innings Saturday. But Jacksonville State was keeping pace from the start, matching Southern Miss’ seven runs in the first two innings with five of its own at the mercy of McInnis and long reliever Ryan McNamara.

“I saw a little low on our team when Todd came out. It was like ‘Oh no, we don’t have a chance now with Todd out,’” Berry said. “I think when Collin came in, that spark came back in us.”

Cargill came into Saturday’s game having thrown just 38 2/3 innings in 26 appearances — an average roughly between 1 1/3 and 1 2/3 innings per outing.

He lasted 7 2/3 innings Saturday, beginning it by forcing a rally-killing double play to escape the second and ending it with his eighth strikeout of the day to officially extend the Golden Eagles’ season one more day.

“I had to gut it out for the team,” Cargill said. “I didn’t want the seniors to go out with a loss today, so I decided that I had to keep going.”

Taylor Walker, Adam Doleac and B.A. Vollmuth all hit three-run home runs for the Golden Eagles, who came back from a one-run effort against Clemson on Friday by rapping 18 hits and picking up RBI from seven of their nine starters.

“We didn’t know how long Collin was going to go so we had to keep attacking,” Walker said. “Turns out Collin finished it out.”

Cargill’s outing, which taxed his arm for 92 pitches, will likely prevent him from appearing today or Monday if necessary. It helped Berry keep a number of arms fresh, though.

It also allowed Southern Miss to extend its hotel stay in Auburn one more night.

“We’re looking forward to hopefully another long day tomorrow,” Walker said.

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