Junior infielder Jet Butler tied a school record with three doubles in game one Wednesday at Dudy Noble Field, as the Bulldogs swept the day/night doubleheader against Valparaiso 9-2, 5-4.
The Bulldogs cruised through
game one with 9 runs on 11 hits,
but needed an impressive late
comeback to take game two from
the Crusaders 4-8.
Mississippi State put up four
runs in the first inning of game
one, beginning off a Butler double,
his first of three on the
afternoon. The Bulldogs added
three more runs in the second
and a run each in, the sixth and
seventh.
Valparaiso put up only two
runs on an RBI single in the
first and an RBI groundout in
the third.
Sophomore pitcher Ricky
Bowen recorded the win for the
Bulldogs, throwing five strong
innings for his first victory of
the season. He gave up only two
runs on four hits, while striking
out six and walking three.
The second game didn’t see
much offense from the Bulldogs
until the late innings.
MSU entered the bottom of the
eighth inning down 4-0. Junior
infielder Russ Sneed led things
off with a pinch hit single to left.
The Bulldogs would then get
back-to-back singles from sophomore
outfielder Ryan Collins and
junior outfielder Luke Adkins,
with Sneed scoring on Adkins’
line drive to right field.
Butler then struck out swinging
at a wild strike three, but
Collins scored on the wild pitch.
Adkins advanced to second, and
moved to third with Ryan Duffy’s
groundout to shortstop.
After senior outfielder Mark
Goforth drew a two-out walk,
junior infielder Connor Powers
drilled a line drive off the base
of the right field wall to tie
things up at four apiece. But that
would be it for the Dawgs in the
eighth.
Senior pitcher Jared Wesson
came in and made short work of
the Crusaders in the top half of
the ninth, facing four batters and
striking out three.
The Bulldogs wasted no time
getting things done in the home
half of the inning.
“I like challenges,” Wesson
said. “I wasn’t nervous, I was
ready to throw. You know I came
in threw strikes.”
Sneed again led things off,
this time with a shot to the leftcenter
gap that he legged out for
a double. Collins laid down a
perfect bunt in front of the plate
advancing Sneed to third. Senior
outfielder Nick Hardy pinch ran
for Sneed and scored the winning
run on Adkins’ fielder’s choice to
second.
After starter freshman pitcher
David Hayes got roughed up in
the third inning for four runs,
three earned, junior pitcher
Drew Hollinghead came in and
went to work on the Crusaders,
giving up only one hit and no
runs in through innings of relief.
Hollinghead was coming off an
injury that kept him from making
last week’s trip to Hawaii.
MSU head coach John Cohen
said he was happy with the wins,
but his team must get better to
compete in the SEC on a weekly
basis.
“We’re just not where we want
to be yet. We’re really having to
scratch and claw,” Cohen said.
“We just did not have good [at
bats], which getting hits is one
thing, but we had three check
swings in play for outs in that
ballgame. I don’t know if I’ve
ever been a part of anything like
that.”
The Bulldogs were coming off
a four-game series at Hawaii that
ended late Sunday. After today’s
doubleheader, there isn’t much
time to rest before lacing up the
cleats for the conference opener
against South Carolina Friday.
Cohen said he knows the
schedule has been tough recently,
but expects his players to step
up and play through it.
“I really challenge my guys,”
Cohen said. “I say, ‘A normal
human being is going to act tired
and not give us everything they
have, but I don’t want you to be
normal human beings; I want
you to be a Mississippi State
baseball player.'”
Powers said a series of hits
beginning in the eighth inning
shifted the momentum of the
game.
“I think that just from Russ’
[Sneed] hit, the first hit of the
inning, is definitely where it
changed it,” Powers said. “It’s
just so contagious, hitting in
baseball. I mean, hitting in general,
getting a walk and then all
of a sudden it leads to another
hit, and big innings are just born
that way.”