A crowd of 12,343 fans witnessed the clobbering of Auburn University (20-3, 4-1 SEC) as Mississippi State University (21-3, 3-2 SEC) scored 15 runs on 20 hits in a 15-2 annihilation to take game two of the series.
Jordan Westburg, a sophomore infielder from New Braunfels, Texas, said the team was fired up to play this game.
“We understand that losing is a part of baseball, but we were pissed off about the loss from Friday night,” Westburg said. “I think that was our mindset coming into the game, let ‘em know, let ‘em know that wasn’t our best baseball Friday, although we played pretty well.”
Not only did MSU come out swinging the bats hot as they got out to a five-run lead, but they also kept up the offensive pressure something they did not do on Friday. Head coach Chris Lemonis said his team was very focused and ready to play.
“We were great offensively today,” Lemonis said. “In the second and third (innings) we left a couple of guys on, but we were still having great at-bats.”
A big part of that success was Westburg, who had three hits for five runs batted in and he had a home run in the eighth inning, as well as contributing to the seven runs scored in that inning.
Lemonis said Westburg is talented and strong with his exit velocities being in the 100-110 MPH range. At this speed, what frequently happens when he gets contact on the ball, he rips the cover off of it.
Westburg said JT Ginn, a freshman pitcher from Brandon, has an incredible arm as the freshman earned a win in seven innings pitched, giving up just four runs.
“He (Ginn) is a one in a million talent,” Westburg said. “You know, you are going to get a lot of chopped balls because his ball has so much movement on it. When he goes out and does his thing, it is pretty unbelievable.”
Westburg said his fastball has movement that looks like it is on a joystick in a video game, and his slider is filthy because it is in the same arm slot and same pitch location as his fastball.
Ginn had a great night as he struck out six hitters in 26 batters faced. Ginn said when he is on the mound doing shoulder shrugs and such, he is just trying to enjoy the game.
“I just like to go out there and have fun,” Ginn said. “It kind of just keeps me loose, and I just go out there and do my thing.”
MSU plays Auburn in a rubber match Sunday, as the winner of the final game will win the series. First pitch is set for 1 p.m., and Westburg said they want to go out there and keep their positive momentum going forward in order to hopefully win.
“I think we just keep it rolling,” Westburg said. “Keep this confidence that we have going into tomorrow, and go out and win a series.”