The Bulldog Box Score: MSU shuts down Southern Miss

Preston Johnson said he was nervous. Well if he indeed was, he sure went on to fool everyone in Trustmark Park on Wednesday night, including the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.

Johnson struck out six Southern Miss hitters over two scoreless innings of relief as part of a dominant Mississippi State pitching performance at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The No. 3 Bulldogs defeated the Golden Eagles 4-1 and the story was how MSU's arms were nearly untouchable.

A quartet of State pitchers – Houston Harding, Johnson, Cam Tullar and Stone Simmons – combined to strike out a whopping 20 Golden Eagles while allowing only a run on three hits.

That was plenty good enough for an MSU offense that got a first-inning run on a Logan Tanner RBI single before adding on with a Rowdey Jordan sacrifice fly in the third and run-scoring singles from Tanner Allen and Tanner again in the fifth.

Southern Miss tallied its lone run with a Dustin Dickerson RBI single in the third.

To hear State head coach Chris Lemonis break it all down, listen to his full postgame press conference with the audio at the top of this page (video was unavailable Wednesday night). Now, let's look at the stats, Cowbell Corner MVPs and the Moment of the Game, as well as a couple of notes.

Mississippi State vs. Southern Miss Box Score

Offensive MVP: C Logan Tanner

With RBI singles in the first and fifth innings, no one had a bigger offensive impact on Wednesday than Tanner. He got the Bulldogs off and running with a single through the right side in the opening frame, then capped the scoring with his base hit up the middle in the fifth that chased home Tanner Allen.

Tanner's two hits on Wednesday have his average up to .286 for the season. Only three other Bulldogs with 11 or more at-bats are better – Allen, Luke Hancock and Landon Jordan. And oh, don't forget Tanner was behind the plate all game helping orchestrate MSU's masterful pitching performance.

Pitching MVP: SP Houston Harding

Speaking of State's mound dominance, Harding gave Mississippi State its best start of the season. The left-hander went five strong innings, striking out nine while allowing only two hits and a run.

Those that followed Harding to the mound sure gave him a run for his money for game MVP though. Preston Johnson was brilliant in his MSU debut as he faced eight hitters and struck out six of them. The only blemishes against him were a two-out single in the sixth and a leadoff walk in the seventh.

Cam Tullar and Stone Simmons then closed the door for the Bulldogs as they combined for two hitless innings. Simmons was credited with the save.

However it was Harding that set the tone. He was credited with his first win of the year.

Moment of the Game: MSU responds in the 3rd

As good as MSU was on the mound, Southern Miss got to the Bulldogs in the third inning and seemed to be building a little momentum. With State up 1-0 in the third, USM's Blake Johnson lined a double down the left-field line off Harding to start the inning and one batter later, Dustin Dickerson singled Johnson home. Just like that, it was tied. Harding didn't allow additional damage though and in the home half of the third, the Bulldogs got that run right back and never trailed again.

Brad Cumbest led off the bottom of the third with a triple to the right-centerfield gap. Rowdey Jordan then followed by driving Cumbest home on a sacrifice fly to right.

No one knew for sure at the time, but ultimately with MSU's hurlers dealing, Cumbest's third inning tally was essentially the game-winning run and it took away any good Golden Eagle vibes built when they had tied the game in the top half.

News and notes

State head coach Chris Lemonis was non-committal postgame as pertaining to this weekend's starting pitching rotation. Beyond ace Christian MacLeod going on Friday, Lemonis wasn't sure what his pitching situation would be on Saturday and Sunday. Again, you can hear more from Lemonis with the audio at the top of this page.
Of course MSU will now be playing Kent State this weekend instead of Tennessee Tech. If you missed how that happened, or need to see this weekend's game times, CLICK HERE TO GET CAUGHT UP.

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