The villain now has a leg up on the hero.
Ole Miss (14-25, 2-11 SEC) stunned No. 25 Mississippi State (30-12, 4-6 SEC), 2-1, in Ridgeland Wednesday night. The Lady Rebels still trail MSU in the overall series 20-12. The Magnolia state rivals will meet two more times this year, once in Oxford and once in Starkville.
MSU hurler Ragan Blake headed up the Bulldogs and struck out five en route to her fifth loss in her 19th complete game of the season.
Blake allowed only six hits, one of which was a solo homerun in the second inning. Ole Miss scored again in the third via sac fly to take the 2-0 lead.
Sophomore all-American shortstop Courtney Bures attempted to bring the Dawgs back out of the darkness with one swing of her bat when she drove out a solo homerun in the sixth inning.
She had no offensive backup, however, as that would be the only run MSU would score throughout the entire evening.
The offensive production didn’t seem to be the problem, as Mississippi State’s women were able to get eight base hits on the evening, with two players going two for three.
Joining Bures for the accomplishment was junior designated player Katie “KJ” Johnson. The problem, however, seemed to be stringing together each individual performance to drive in runs.
Seven runners were left on base by the Maroon and White. Miller notices that that’s something his team needs to work on.
“We got some runners on, but we just couldn’t get people to step up and drive them in,” he said. “I was disappointed with that. We need people to step up when we get those opportunities, especially against SEC competition.”
State will spend Super Bulldog Weekend in Athens, Ga., as they prepare to knock bats with the No. 10 Lady Bulldogs of Georgia (34-9, 14-3 SEC) over a three-game series. The dueling Bulldog squads will tie up Saturday at 1 p.m. for a doubleheader, and then again Sunday at 1 p.m. before MSU heads back home.