The Maroon squad beat the White squad three games to one as the Mississippi State baseball team finished its fall practice period with the Maroon/White World Series.
The four-game series began Wednesday and ended Sunday night, wrapping up 45 days of practice for the Bulldogs this fall.
New coach John Cohen feels the scrimmages are a good way of evaluating his players, giving him a chance to see how they perform in game situations.
“We wanted to see how these guys would come out and perform under pressure,” Cohen said. “They’re all out there in uniform getting a chance to see how they perform in normal game situations.”
The series began on Wednesday, with the Maroon squad taking the first game 5-2 thanks to a three-run sixth inning that broke the tie for good.
The White squad was able to even the series Friday night, winning 7-2 before an estimated crowd of about 1,000 fans. Junior second baseman Justin Bussey was 2-3 on the night with three RBIs.
However, the Maroon squad was able to win Saturday morning and Sunday night.
One notable performance from the last two days of action was that of junior third baseman Connor Powers. Powers had a couple of singles on Saturday to go along with two RBIs for the Maroon. His two-run home run in the 11th inning of Sunday’s game started a five-run inning for the Maroon squad, giving it the lead and ultimately the victory.
“I think we all played pretty well this week,” Powers said. “Coach Cohen has let us go out there and make our own decisions this week. Having a new coach has been a change for us, but we all love Coach Cohen.”
The Bulldogs will return 20 lettermen this upcoming season, including eight starting position players and 10 other pitchers who contributed to last year’s team.
Senior outfielder Grant Hogue said he likes where his team is right now under its new coach.
“I think we have a strong team,” Hogue said. “We’re going to be really scrappy and put pressure on other teams by running a lot and trying to make them make mistakes.”