STATESBORO - South Alabama's Meredith Keel drove home the winning run in the top of the eighth inning to give the visiting Jaguars a 5-4 victory over host Georgia Southern on Friday evening at Eagle Field.

The win moves the Jaguars to 30-13 overall and 12-4 in the Sun Belt, while Georgia Southern falls to 17-24 overall and 6-10 in the league. The two teams will play game two of their Sun Belt series on Saturday at 3 p.m.

South Alabama scored single runs in four straight innings, from the second through the fifth, to take a 4-0 lead on the Eagles.

Georgia Southern rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning as Faith Barth hit a bases-clearing three-run double down the right field line, then Janai Conklin followed with an RBI single to make the score 4-4.

South Alabama had the bases loaded in the top of the sixth inning to try and retake the lead, but Emma Davis' sliding grab of a blooper off the bat of Victoria Ortiz kept the game tied a 4-all.

The Eagles had a chance to win in the bottom of the seventh as Brooke Kell led off the inning with a single, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Davis. The Jaguars' Jenna Hardy (13-7) induced two straight ground balls to escape the jam.

Keel then delivered the game-winning single with one out in the top of the eighth for South Alabama.

Hardy limited the Eagles to three hits and no runs over two innings to notch the win in relief, striking out two. Morgan Kendrick (8-3) took the loss for the Eagles in relief, giving up four hits and one run in 3 1/3 innigns of work, walking one and striking out one.