The Mississippi State Bulldogs didn’t have to travel very far to pick up three wins over the weekend. State extended its winning streak to eight games, courtesy of a series sweep of the Mississippi Rebels. With its second straight Southeastern Conference sweep on the road, MSU jumped to the top spot in the conference with an 8-1 record (22-3-1 overall).
Paul Maholm lasted eight innings and scattered six hits Friday night as the Bulldogs took game one 2-0. UM starter Mark Holliman also threw eight innings and held the Bulldogs scoreless in all but one.
The Rebels failed to capitalize on a bases-loaded opportunity in the third when Maholm forced a fly-out to end the inning.
MSU stranded six runners through the first five innings before finally getting on the board in the sixth. Matthew Brinson led off the inning with a single to right, and Brad Corley doubled down the leftfield line to put men on second and third. Two batters later, Craig Tatum stepped to the plate and ripped the first pitch up the middle, scoring Brinson and Corley.
Maholm prevented the Rebels from answering in the following innings, and Jonathan Papelbon took the mound in the ninth to close out the game.
Each team was limited to seven hits, and neither club committed an error in the game.
“If you strike out eight like Paul does, you don’t have to play catch as much,” head coach Ron Polk said. “We’ve been pretty consistent all year on defense.”
Alan Johnson assured another Bulldog shutout Saturday with his first complete game of the year. The 7-0 victory marked the first time MSU recorded back-to-back SEC shutouts since blanking the Rebels twice in a row in 1990.
After giving up a hit to his first opponent, Johnson allowed his second and final hit in the fourth. Johnson walked the next batter, got out of trouble and downed the next 17 UM batters on his way to a 4-0 season record.
Tatum’s two-run homer to left in the second inning gave the Bulldogs all they needed to win. Jon Mungle started another two-run inning in the fifth with a triple to right field and batted in MSU’s last run with a single.
The two-hit, no-run performance became the first shutout of Johnson’s MSU career. In the win, he registered only two strikeouts and gave up one walk.
“Alan (Johnson) didn’t have a lot of strikeouts,” Polk said. “Ole Miss was very aggressive early in the count, and that feeds into Alan’s repertoire because he can get the big-out ground balls and the routine fly balls.”
The Bulldogs had to come from behind to win Sunday’s game, but with 16 hits, they had plenty of bat power to do so.
Mississippi claimed a 2-0 advantage in the bottom of the second when Charlie Babineaux drove a homerun over the leftfield fence with a man on first.
MSU eventually responded in the fifth when Brinson and Corley combined for a pair of RBI singles to tie the game.
Jacob Blakeney, pitching in relief of starter Todd Nicholas, needed one more strike to end the sixth inning. Babineaux spoiled that possibility with a double down the leftfield line that brought in the go-ahead run. Charlie Waite brought Babineaux home with a single straight up the middle, giving the Rebels a 4-2 lead.
The resilient Bulldogs had an answer in the next inning, and a five-run scoring spree put their in-state rivals away for good. With runners on first and second base, Brinson cranked a double into the right field gap to tie the game at four. Thomas Berkery and Brent Lewis each drove in a run with a single and a double, and Matthew Maniscalco walked with the bases loaded to bring in the inning’s fifth run. Berkery picked up his second RBI in the eighth with another single, giving the Bulldogs an 8-4 lead, which would be the final score.
UM starter Eric Fowler surrendered nine hits in his six innings but held MSU scoreless for five of those innings.
“Fowler was very effective,” Brinson said. “He was painting corners inside and out. In the later innings, we got to their bullpen and took advantage of it.”
MSU returns to Dudy Noble Field tonight for a game against the Alabama (Birmingham) Blazers. The Bulldogs will travel to Jackson Wednesday to play the Rebels again for the Mayor’s Trophy Game.