The Bulldog Box Score and More: Bednar Baffles Bama Bats as MSU Clinches Series
Dominant. Brilliant. Superb.
There are many adjectives to describe how Mississippi State starting pitcher Will Bednar performed on Friday night against Alabama. Perhaps MSU head coach Chris Lemonis had the most straightforward summation of it though.
"When Will Bednar does that, it's a pretty good chance to win there," Lemonis said in his postgame interview on the MSU Radio Network.
Indeed, the No. 10 Bulldogs did claim victory as Bednar's career night led to a 7-0 MSU win over the Crimson Tide that clinched this week's three-game series. State's right-handed starter hurled a career-best eight innings, didn't allow a run, surrendered just three hits and two walks while striking out 11 in baffling Alabama bats all night long.
"He had a good fastball and good slider," Lemonis said of Bednar. "And every week that we go, his changeup is getting better. [Alabama] had a blend of switch hitters and left-handed hitters in the lineup and [Bednar] had to use his changeup a little bit more than normal and it was pretty good."
Bednar received plenty of Bulldog firepower to back up his strong effort. Kamren James hit a solo home run in the second to put MSU on the scoreboard first and State broke the game open with a three-run third that featured RBI doubles from Rowdey Jordan and Tanner Allen and a sacrifice fly from Luke Hancock.
MSU added two more runs in the fifth when Allen delivered a sacrifice fly two batters ahead of a Hancock run-scoring single. Logan Tanner pushed across State's final run with an RBI groundout in the ninth.
In all, the Bulldogs scored their seven runs on eight hits. Lemonis believed his club was really even better than that offensively.
"On our hit chart, I think we had more hard-hit balls than we had hits on the scoreboard," Lemonis said. "We came out hot all night long and swung the bats really well."
In the bottom of the ninth, after 112 Bednar pitches, Brandon Smith came in to close things out for MSU. He worked a perfect frame with two strikeouts to seal the Bulldog triumph.
The win keeps MSU in the driver's seat to, at the very least, secure a Top-4 seed and first-round for next week's SEC Tournament. Other scenarios could also be at play in Saturday's 1 p.m. series finale, pending Friday night's results around the SEC. However don't expect Lemonis and the Bulldogs to lose any sleep Friday night trying to figure it all out.
"I'm probably a really boring coach," Lemonis said. "I tell [the team] every week, 'Let's come out and play good tomorrow.' It's the coach speak of it, but our goal is to come out and play great baseball...We're trying not to get caught up in all the scenarios. And our guys, they're not that bright. They can't figure out all these different things. We show up. We play. We get after it and we let the chips fall where they fall. That's all that we can do."
Mississippi State's Will Bednar pitched eight shutout innings on Friday to lead the Bulldogs to victory over Alabama. (File photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics)
Alright, let's take a quick look at Friday's stats, game MVPs and the Moment of the Game:
Mississippi State at Alabama box score
MSU Offensive MVP: DH Kamren James
James broke loose from his recent struggles with a two-hit night, including a solo home run in the second inning that got the Bulldogs off and running (more on that in a minute). But beyond getting hits, James showed signs of looking like his old self. That's great news for the Bulldogs.
James entered Friday with only one hit in his previous 25 at-bats. But finally, his bat woke up and Lemonis couldn't have been much happier about it.
"He's one of the better hitters in our league," Lemonis said of James. "He's had a tough probably 10-day period. It happens in this game. It's hard when you're a coach seeing your guy struggle through that. All you can do is support him...He's been having good [batting practices]. He's been working hard. He's been a great teammate. [Friday] he was able to get the barrel on [the ball]. Maybe his best swing of the night, he hit it straight to the centerfielder. He had some big swings for us, then he's such a great baserunner when he's out there. He just changes the game."
MSU Pitching MVP: SP Will Bednar
As mentioned previously, Bednar was simply fantastic on Friday night. You already saw his numbers above, so just take a look at some of Bednar's dominance with a few quick highlights:
Moment of the Game: James backs Bednar early
When you're pitching like Bednar was on Friday, you only need one run to back you up. James gave it to his hurler early.
In the second inning, James connected for his ninth home run of the season and first one since way back on April 16. It got MSU's offense cranked up and – though no one knew for sure at the time – it gave Bednar and Smith all the support they'd need.
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