CONWAY, S.C. – It took four hours and four minutes, but Georgia Southern Baseball survived against Louisiana, taking a 6-5 win over the Ragin' Cajuns to advance to a winner's bracket clash with Little Rock on Thursday afternoon. A solo home run for the Cajuns in the top of the 13^th inning put the Eagles to the sword, but Georgia Southern responded with a leadoff double from Steven Curry and Mason McWhorter set the table for the win.

Second team All-Sun Belt second baseman Steven Curry closed out a 2-for-6 game with the 13^th inning leadoff double that sparked the winning frame. Mason McWhorter dropped a single to left which moved Curry to third. A wild pitch to Nolan Tressler allowed Curry to score and moved McWhorter around to second. Tressler dropped a sacrifice bunt back to the mound and the Cajun pitcher tried in vain to get McWhorter at third. The throw, not in time, went wide of the third baseman, allowing the Eagle right fielder to walk across the plate for the win.

McWhorter's big day got started in the third inning when he drove in Georgia Southern's first two runs. His 12^th home run of the season scored Mason Miller who singled earlier in the frame. From that point, the Eagles went cold as Louisiana's Grant Cox stymied the Eagles, retiring 14-straight batters.

Louisiana got a pair of runs back in the fifth when back-to-back singles scored runs off Seth Shuman. The junior hurler went six quality innings, scattering five hits and allowing just two runs with five strikeouts and two walks on 108 pitches. He did not factor in the decision.

A Mason Miller single in the eighth inning opened the door for a run after a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single by Curry after Cox left the game. The Cajuns, however, played small ball after a leadoff double to tie the game at 3-3 with a bunt to move the runner along and a squeeze play to score the run.

Both teams left the 10^th frame open, but the Cajuns punished a leadoff error in the top of the 11^th for a run to take a one run lead into the bottom of the 11^th. Tressler doubled down the left field line in the home half of the 11^th and moved up on a wild pitch. Noah Searcy's sacrifice fly to right scored the run and evened the game again at 4-4.

Both teams were scoreless in the 12^th inning, but a leadoff double off the top of the 20-foot wall in centerfield by Austin Thompson nearly ended the game early. The sophomore shortstop, however, was stranded at second as the game went to the 13^th inning.

Louisiana's Hanson Monica put the Cajuns on top in the opening half of the 13^th with a solo home run that landed in the Eagle bullpen. A walk and an error put the Eagles under further pressure, but Daniel Collins was able to get out of the jam and take the Eagles to the bottom of the 13^th inning.

Four Eagle pitchers combined to strike out 12 Cajun batters. Hayden Harris went four and a third innings but started to run out of gas throwing 51 pitches. Collins got the final out of the 13^th inning and took the win to improve to 4-1 on the year.

The 13-inning contest was the third game to go that many innings for the Eagles this season and the first since the opening weekend of the season. It also matched the record for longest game in terms of innings in Sun Belt Baseball Championship. It was the fifth game to go that distance and the first since 2014.

Next up for the Eagles is a winner's bracket contest against Little Rock on Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. The Eagles took two of three from the Trojans in the regular season in Statesboro. Junior Joe Nahas will get the ball for the Eagles, against Little Rock's righty Hayden Arnold. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. on ESPN+ and the Georgia Southern Sports Network.