TUSCALOOSA, Ala.-The Tide had their brooms ready, but Mississippi State refused to be swept.
Despite dropping the first two games of their road series with Alabama and losing their No. 1 national ranking, the now No. 3 Bulldogs ended the weekend on a positive note with an extra-inning thriller.
Friday: UA 5, MSU 3
The Crimson Tide could not have asked for a better start to their A-Day Weekend than the complete game pitching gem they enjoyed from lefty Wade LeBlanc Friday night in a 5-3 win over the now 22-3 Bulldogs.
LeBlanc struck out seven in his nine innings of work, while issuing no walks.
“He’s their hoss, and he’s very good,” Mississippi State head coach Ron Polk said. “We hit the ball hard against him at times tonight, just not enough.”
Brooks Dunn went seven innings for the Maroon and White, striking out seven, but he allowed four runs.
The two schools, both nationally ranked and vying for an SEC West crown, began the game with a pitcher’s dual, both holding the other scoreless until the top of the fifth inning when Michael Rutledge hit a 1-1 offering from LeBlanc over the left field fence.
Alabama responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame: one on a passed ball, one on a balk and one on a Greg Paiml triple.
The Bulldogs staged a comeback late in the game with a two-run homerun by Ed Easley in the eighth but were unable to come up with anything more, falling on the road for the second time in three games.
Saturday: UA 5, MSU 4
Alabama smelled maroon blood in the water after Friday night’s win and went in for the kill early in Saturday’s afternoon contest. The Tide plated two runs in each of the first two innings along with another in the fifth and held Mississippi State scoreless until the fifth in what would eventually be a 5-4 series-clinching victory for the Crimson-clad home team.
The Bulldogs would chip away at a comeback, however. Alabama walked Thomas Berkery in the fifth with the bases loaded to put the Diamond Dawgs on the board, and then Wyn Diggs scored a run in the eighth off a Jeff Butts double to cut the deficit to three.
In the top of the ninth, Berkery crushed a two-run shot to left field to cut the Tide lead to one, but co-captain Brad Jones would eventually strike out to end the inning.
Josh Johnson gave up five earned runs to take home the seven-inning loss for the Bulldogs, striking out three before turning the mound over to Mike Valentine for a final inning of work.
Jeffrey Rea paced the Bulldogs with three hits and a stolen base, while Berkery accounted for all but one of the team’s RBI.
Sunday MSU 4, UA 2
Facing the possibility of being swept and dropping to 4-4 in SEC play, the MSU Bulldogs rallied from a two-run discrepancy to take the final game of the series in an 11-inning 4-2 chess match.
Alabama stole two runs in the bottom of the second frame on a Ryan Rhoden single, and starter Tommy Hunter kept the Bulldog offense off kilter until the top of the seventh inning.
“Anytime you play Alabama, you know you’re going to have to play well because they pitch well,” Polk said.
In the seventh frame, the Bulldogs tied the contest on an Easley single to center field, one play after Rea beat out a fielder’s choice at first base to score the Dawgs’ first run of the game.
With the game knotted at two runs apiece and the bases loaded for the visiting team in the top of the ninth, the Tide brought in David Robertson to retire the final two batters.
“Our batting average with the bases loaded (.115) is the worst in the history of college baseball,” Polk exaggerated after the game. “We’ve got to get better.”
Robertson, already tired from working 60 pitches the previous afternoon, wore on for the Tide until the top of the 11th inning when an Easley double scored Rea from second.
“I was surprised to see him back out there (after yesterday),” Easley said. “He’s a good pitcher, and he’ll win a lot of games, but we got the best of him today.”
The Bulldogs added an insurance run two batters later with a Mitch Moreland double to right field, and Justin Pigott worked a perfect 11th inning to earn his second straight Sunday extra-inning relief win.
Pigott worked the final four innings of the game for the Dawgs, allowing only three hits while striking out four.
“That last inning was all God,” Pigott said after the game. “I had no strength left.”
The win improves the Bulldogs’ SEC record to 5-3 on the campaign and sets up a huge home series on Friday with the Georgia Bulldogs.
Berkery singled in the sixth to extend his SEC-leading hitting streak to 22 games.