South Alabama has no need to sweat it out until Monday's NCAA baseball tournament selection show.

The Jaguars walked off with a 7-6 victory in 10 innings over host Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt tournament championship game Sunday in Statesboro, Ga., claiming the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA regionals. Brendan Donovan's RBI single scored Dylan Hardy with the winning run in the 10th, after South Alabama had scored two runs in the ninth to tie it.

"Our guys don't quit," South Alabama coach Mark Calvi said in his post-game interview on espn3. "Our mantra is, you've got 27 outs, and you use them all. The other team has to get them all against us. We play til the end.

"I'm proud. Our kids have battled all year long. We're no strangers to being behind."

Third-seeded USA (39-19) led most of the day and 4-3 heading into the ninth, but Georgia Southern's Ryan Cleveland hit a towering three-run homer to put the fifth-seeded Eagles (38-21) up 6-4. The Jaguars weren't done, however, as Hardy and Eddie Paparella hit back-to-back solo homers in the bottom of the inning to tie the game.

South Alabama reliever Avery Geyer escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the 10th, setting up Donovan's heroics in the bottom of the inning. Hardy led off with a walk, then took third on Paul Russo's pinch-hit single.

That brought up Donovan, who served a 3-2 pitch from Georgia Southern reliever Jacob Contra-Bogan into the left-field corner for the game-winner. Hardy scored as his teammates mobbed Donovan between first and second.

South Alabama scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to back starting pitcher Andy Arguelles, who allowed one run in 5-plus innings. Georgia Southern scored two in the sixth on Steven Curry's two-run single to make it 3-2, but Hunter Stokes' solo homer in the bottom of the inning made it 4-2.

Georgia Southern scored a run -- charged to Zach Melton in the eighth on a double-play grounder, then took the lead in the ninth against USA closer Matt Peacock. Logan Baldwin singled, then Tyler Martin walked, bringing up Cleveland, who hammered a 3-2 pitch from Peacock over the center-field wall to put the host team on top.

South Alabama came right back in the bottom of the inning, however, as Hardy and Paparella both went yard against Georgia Southern's Evan Challenger. The Jaguars then loaded the bases with two outs, but Carter Perkins was narrowly thrown out at first base to send the game to extra innings.

In the top of the 10th, Geyer (3-2) walked Evan McDonald before getting Curry to line out to a leaping Drew LaBounty at shortstop. After Logan Baldwin singled, the Eagles tried a squeeze bunt with pinch-hitter Cal Baker, but Geyer threw McDonald out at the plate. Cleveland then walked, and Jordan Wren flied out to left field for the third out.

Adam Kelly (1-1) took the loss for Georgia Southern, having allowed the walk to Hardy and the single to Russo before Donovan's game-winning hit off Condra-Bogan. Donovan finished the day 3-for-6 with a double and two RBIs, and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player after going 7-for-16 with two doubles, two homers and six RBIs in three games over the weekend.

Here's video of Donovan's game-winning hit:

The tournament championship was South Alabama's first since 2005 and came in Calvi's sixth year as head coach. The Jaguars lost the Sun Belt title game two years ago in Troy, when Louisiana-Lafayette's Stefan Trosclair hit a walk-off grand slam in the 12th inning.

This year's Jaguars dealt with numerous injuries early in the year, including the loss of Donovan and LaBounty for extended periods and reliever Matt DeSantis for the year. In last weekend's final regular-season series against Troy, All-Sun Belt catcher Jared Barnes suffered a broken finger that will keep him out indefinitely.

"It's a lot of hard work our team has put in," Calvi said. "Every team goes through adversity, and we've been through our fair share. We won the Sun Belt tournament and that's hard to do. This is my 24th year (coaching in college baseball) and my third tournament (championship). Hats off to a very good Georgia Southern team. Our guys are Sun Belt champions this year."

Hardy added two hits Sunday along with three runs scored and his homer, his third of the tournament. The sophomore from D'Iberville, Miss., had just one home run this season coming into the weekend.

Stokes went 2-for-2 with a homer, while Perkins added two doubles. Paparella's homer was his sixth of the year, but first since April 4.

South Alabama will learn its NCAA tournament destination during the NCAA tournament selection show, which airs at 11 a.m. Central on ESPN Monday. The 16 regional hosts will be announced on Sunday night.