Head coach Ron Polk’s Mississippi State University Bulldogs defeated Polk’s former team, the Georgia Bulldogs, two games to one in a weekend series. The MSU Bulldogs took game one behind the pitching of starter Paul Maholm and reliever Jonathan Papelbon.
Maholm scattered 12 hits in seven innings but held UGA to five runs, and Papelbon struck out four of the eight batters he faced to earn the save.
After scoring a run in the first inning, MSU added to its lead by putting up three in the third. After a pair of MSU batters walked, right fielder Steve Gendron got his second hit and second RBI of the game with a single to left field. Two batters later, Michael Brown, starting at second base for the first time this season, singled in a run and advanced Gendron to third. With two outs, leftfielder Winston Pearson brought Gendron home with a high-hopper that went for a hit to give State a 4-0 lead.
In the meantime, Maholm held the UGA Bulldogs to one hit and no runs in the first four innings. Georgia refused to go away, though, and in the fifth, they came within one run of MSU. With runners on first and second, UGA third baseman Lee Mitchell doubled to left center scoring both men. After moving to third on a groundout, Mitchell scored on a single to make it a 4-3 ball game. In the sixth, Georgia took a 5-4 lead when Mitchell drove in a run with a single to left.
State didn’t stay down long as they reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning. With the bases loaded, first baseman Matthew Brinson ripped a single up the middle that scored two runs.
After MSU posted an insurance run in the seventh, Georgia threatened again in the eighth. After Papelbon took the mound for MSU, the UGA Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out. Papelbon single-handedly ended the inning by striking out his next two opponents. Papelbon went on to retire three straight batters in the ninth, and MSU won by a score of 7-5.
“My main philosophy is just to challenge batters,” Papelbon said. “I go out there and say, ‘Hit my best pitch.'”
The save was Papelbon’s third of the season, and he credited the game’s starting pitcher, Maholm, who is 6-1 on the year.
“Paul’s competed with every team we’ve faced so far, and he competed out there tonight, so he makes my job easy,” Papelbon said.
MSU lit up the Bulldogs of Georgia on Saturday for 14 runs on 12 hits while pitcher Tanner Brock held them to five hits and two runs in eight innings on the mound.
MSU went into the bottom of the third trailing 1-0, but a Brown two-run homer put State on the board and gave them a lead that they kept for good. With two outs in the inning and center fielder Casey Long the lone base runner at third, Brinson hit a ground ball and Long ran for home plate. The grounder went straight to the third baseman who threw home and appeared to have Long gunned down at the plate. Long caught a break, however, as the ball hit his helmet before it could reach the catcher’s mitt causing him to score and everyone to be safe on the play. State finished the third inning with a 5-1 lead and posted nine more runs en route to a 14-4 victory.
Shortstop Matthew Maniscalco was partially responsible for the MSU Bulldogs’ high-powered offense. Maniscalco, the leadoff batter, reached base on each of his five plate appearances.
“The best thing the team can get is base runners early,” Maniscalco said. “After that, you never know what’s going to happen.”
With Saturday’s win giving MSU a 2-0 series lead, the Bulldogs would go for their first SEC series sweep on Sunday.
“It’s great to already have won the series, but we want the sweep really badly,” Maniscalco said.
The Georgia Bulldogs denied MSU of the series sweep on Sunday thanks to solid pitching from starter Brandon Moorhead and reliever Matt Woods. The two combined to allow seven hits, which tied a season-low for MSU. On his way to picking up the win, Moorhead struck out a career-high 12 batters in his five innings on the mound.
Georgia got to work offensively in the second inning when catcher Clint Sammons doubled to score a run. Sammons took home on an interference call after left fielder Chaz Lytle singled to right giving UGA a 2-0 advantage.
Each team came up with a run in the following five innings, and Georgia bought some insurance in the eighth by scoring on an error and a sacrifice fly. In the top of the ninth, UGA piled on four more runs on its way to taking game three by a score of 9-2.
Polk said that he wasn’t surprised at Moorhead’s performance.
“Brandon was good today. He had some weapons out there,” Polk said. “I knew he’d be a tough, ornery customer because he was good for us for two years at Georgia.”
Polk, who spent the last two seasons as Georgia’s head coach, had to play against many players that he had previously coached. Polk said that he would root for his old players as long as they weren’t playing Mississippi State.