Friday
Mississippi State fell behind the Georgia Bulldogs 0-1 in the series count Friday night after a 5-1 loss to Georgia pitcher Michael Hyle.
Hyle scattered six hits over 8 1/3 innings, striking out four and allowing only one Mississippi State run.
“Michael Hyle was outstanding tonight,” said MSU head coach Ron Polk. “He only struck out four, but he was very effective. We had a lot of pop-ups and routine plays, and we didn’t get a lot of good swings against him tonight.”
Josh Johnson, starting pitcher for State, pitched six strong innings, allowing only one earned run on four hits.
Joseph Hunter led the MSU offense with two hits, both singles, while All-American outfielder Brad Corley had the team’s only RBI on a sacrifice fly in the ninth. MSU left six men on base.
Saturday
Where Josh Johnson pitched well and fell short the night before, Todd Doolittle shined on for the win.
Doolittle pitched a complete game shutout, striking out eight and leading the MSU Bulldogs to a 6-0 win over Georgia. The Bulldog hurler allowed only two hits.
“Todd was very good today and showed a lot of toughness in bouncing back from a rough outing last weekend against a fine Auburn club,” Polk said. “He had eight strikeouts today, and we played pretty good defense behind him.”
The team was also very efficient at the plate, notching 12 hits while plating six runs in the contest.
Jeff Butts, Brad Jones, Thomas Berkery and Bunky Kateon all contributed multi-hits for the Bulldogs, while Berkery and Ryan Fesmire led the team by plating two runs each.
The game was knotted at zero through four innings before Fesmire broke the game open with a two-RBI single to left center, followed one batter later by Berkery’s two-RBI double to the same spot.
The win evens the season series between the two Bulldogs, with Sunday’s game serving as the tiebreaker.
Sunday
In the final game of the three game road set, State suffered only their second SEC series loss of the year by losing a 6-3 decision at Georgia.
The maroon Bulldogs struck first, scoring two runs in the second on a Brian LaNinfa home run.
However, Jon Crosby, the shutdown starter in last week’s Sunday game, fell short of precedent, giving up five hits and three runs in 4 1/3 innings before being pulled in favor of Justin Pigott.
MSU would rally to tie the game in the fourth on a LaNinfa single to center field, but the State bullpen could not hold the Georgia offense at bay.
Pigott allowed Bobby Felmy two-run homer in the seventh to break the tie, and then Brett Cleveland gave up a Josh Morris homer in the eighth to seal the game. Pigott was charged with the loss.
LaNinfa had all three of State’s RBI’s on a 2-3 day at the plate.
Leadoff man Jeffery Rae and third baseman Ed Easley were the only other Bulldogs with multiple hits.
Mississippi State will resume play Tuesday with a two game series against South Alabama, the first one at Mobile, and the second at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson.