After splitting a pair of extra-inning games on Friday and Saturday nights, Kentucky pounded Mississippi State in Sunday’s rubber game to take the series.
Friday, State (20-20, 6-12 SEC) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning, when junior Russ Sneed scored on a wild pitch and Ryan Powers singled to score senior Scott DeLoach.
State’s starting pitcher Tyler Whitney held the Wildcats (21-17, 6-12 SEC) scoreless through six innings, but gave up single runs in the seventh and eighth.
After Andy Burns led off the eighth with a game-tying home run, Whitney gave way to freshman Paxton Pace. Pace earned two strikeouts and a ground ball to retire the Cats in the inning.
Whitney finished with seven strong innings, giving up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts.
Kentucky starter James Paxton had a similar line, surrendering two runs on six hits in seven innings and striking out nine.
After earning a fly ball out, Pace hit a batter and gave up a pair of hits to load the bases before being replaced by senior Lee Swindle.
Swindle surrendered one hit, a two out RBI single by Chris Bisson, to give Kentucky the lead before Burns was picked off at second to end the inning.
State’s half of the ninth also ended with a runner being picked off of second, but not before the Bulldogs knotted the score on an RBI single by junior Connor Powers.
After an uneventful 10th frame, Kentucky picked up a pair in the top of the 11th on a Bisson triple.
State added a run in the home half, but the two-run cushion proved to be enough to seal the win for UK.
Saturday’s first nine innings were remarkably similar to Friday’s, with each squad plating three runs.
Freshman starter Nick Routt went six innings for the Bulldogs, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits against eight strikeouts. UK starter Chris Rusin also gave up three runs on seven hits, though Rusin went seven and one-third innings.
The big winner for MSU on Saturday was its bullpen. Often condemned as the team’s biggest weakness, it combined for four shutout innings between senior Chad Crosswhite and senior Jared Wesson.
Wesson said the bullpen’s strong outing was great for the staff’s confidence.
“We’ve had our struggles, but we believe in ourselves and we believe in our stuff,” he said. “We’ve just got to go out and compete and that’s what we did.”
The bullpen received a major lift from its outfield in the top of the ninth, when freshman Brent Brownlee robbed Bisson of a home run.
Brownlee said he scraped his arm pretty hard hitting the fence.
“I knew the wind was going to be an issue,” he said. “I got back on it, I saw it off the bat and got back as far as I could. I kind of ran out of room but I threw my glove up and happened to catch it.”
The extra frame did not take long to complete. After Wesson shut the Cats down in the tenth, Connor Powers led off the home half with a walk off home run, the first of his career. The shot left no doubt, sailing over the right field wall without so much as a step back from either outfielder, and gave State a 4-3 victory.
MSU head coach John Cohen said his team’s performance was better Friday than Saturday, despite the game’s respective outcomes.
“We had some young guys get caught up in the emotion of the game,” he said. “Those things just can’t happen to us. We’ve got to be better than that.”
Sunday’s game saw 39 runs on 43 hits and the two teams combined for nine errors.
Despite being the only game of the weekend decided in nine innings, the affair went for nearly four and one-half hours.
UK got the scoring going early, plating four runs in the top of the first and chasing starter junior Ricky Bowen. The Cats never let up, scoring in every inning but the third.
After Kentucky went up 9-4 in the fourth inning, MSU did not get closer than five runs.
State utilized seven pitchers, including both of its starting corner outfielders. The Bulldogs’ pitching staff was depleted by stiffness in sopohmore Forrest Moore’s forearm which prevented him from starting.
Bowen (2-3) picked up the loss, while the win went to Logan Darnell, who allowed four runs in two innings of relief.
State hosts Middle Tennessee State today and Wednesday before traveling to Vanderbilt for the weekend.