The Mississippi State Bulldogs upped their winning streak to a season-high nine games before losing the Entergy Mayor’s Trophy Game in the state capital on Wednesday.
MSU hosted the Blazers of Alabama-Birmingham Tuesday night at Dudy Noble Field and polished off the season series that began March 4 at UAB.
Jon Mungle went yard for the fifth time this year, and Matthew Maniscalco came up a triple short of the cycle while lengthening his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games.
Five Bulldog pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts, and starter Jeff Lacher collected his fourth win with a five-inning, five-hit outing.
After both teams went scoreless in the first inning, MSU put up a six-spot on the scoreboard to break the game open. After, Thomas Berkery and Winston Pearson delivered two-strike singles to start the second, Mungle got behind in the count and cranked the third strike over the right field wall several feet left of the foul pole. Doubles provided by Maniscalco and Brad Corley helped the Bulldogs add another three runs to take a 6-0 advantage.
State batted around again in the fourth and extended to a 10-2 lead in the process. After Berkery and Brent Lewis earned bases-loaded walks for two runs, Joseph Hunter supplied a sacrifice fly, and Maniscalco singled through the left side to score Berkery.
Maniscalco captured the Bulldogs’ last hit in the sixth when he took an 0-2 pitch deep to left for his fourth homerun of the season.
Nine MSU batters chipped in for a season-high 17 hits, five of which went for extra bases. Maniscalco, Corley and J.B. Tucker contributed with three hits and two RBI apiece.
“We’re just rolling on all cylinders right now,” Lacher said. “It seems like we can’t do anything wrong.”
With the 13-4 win, State improved its midweek record to 7-1-1, a dramatic improvement over the 5-4 record the team held last year in its first nine midweek contests.
“Last year, we struggled in the midweek games,” Mungle said. “Midweek games are tough. A lot of times, you want to take them for granted like you’ve already got the win.”
Mungle said the team wouldn’t take Mississippi lightly even after sweeping the Rebels the previous weekend. Still, the Bulldogs failed to capture the Mayor’s Trophy Wednesday night in Jackson, as Mississippi won the 24th annual non-conference affair for the fourth time in five years. The Rebels snapped their six-game losing streak against the Bulldogs with a 5-1 victory in front of 5,689 at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson.
Lefthander Brae Wright took the hill for the Rebels and outlasted Corley in a match-up of true freshmen. Wright threw for six innings, surrendering one run and five hits to notch the win. In his four innings, Corley allowed two runs off five hits and handed out four free passes to first base.
Seth Smith opened the bottom of the first with a single up the middle and scored on a passed ball for a 1-0 Rebel lead. Mississippi added a run in the fourth when Matt Tolbert’s sacrifice fly brought a man home.
State’s lone run came in the top of the fifth when Pearson and Mungle hit back-to-back doubles with two outs to bring the Bulldogs within one.
The Rebels’ big inning came in the bottom of the fifth when they managed three scores. With one out and the bases loaded, Charlie Waite laced a double that drove in two. Tolbert followed with a single that scored one more run and gave the Rebels the 5-1 lead, and neither team scored in the final four frames.
“I thought their pitching was very effective,” MSU head coach Ron Polk said. “I thought they worked the zone up. I think we counted 11 or 12 (fly balls) in the course of the game, and any time that happens, it’s like going up to home plate before the ballgame and giving the coach of the other team 11 outs in addition to your lineup card. It’s hard to generate much of an offense.”