The Bullpen Dominates for Mississippi State Baseball in a 5-4 Win over Southern Miss
STARKVILLE, Miss – The Mississippi State Bulldogs notched their sixth straight win against their stiffest competition to date. It was a disastrous start for MSU as they fell behind 4-0 in the first inning.
Karson Ligon, the Miami transfer, got the start for MSU today and did not have his best stuff. Ligon walked a pair of batters, plus a wild pitch and a passed ball occurred in the inning, leading to an early crooked number for the Golden Eagles.
At that point, it looked like the Bulldogs were dead in the water, especially after three straight strikeouts by the Bulldog lineup in the top of the next inning. However, Chris Lemonis sent the freshman Nolan Stevens to the mound to stop the bleeding, and he did by pitching two scoreless innings and picking up a pair of strikeouts.
The Bulldogs also got the bats going and scored two runs in the top of the third to cut the USM lead in half. Evan Siary was the next Bulldog arm, and he pitched an excellent inning, picking up a couple of strikeouts with his wicked two-seam fastball.
A roughly hour-long rain delay forced Siary to be pulled after just an inning. Tyson Hardin picked up right where he left off and pitched a pair of scoreless innings.
Hardin did an excellent job of staying underneath Golden Eagle barrels and picked up the win after a solo home run by Dakota Jordan gave MSU the lead in the seventh. Tyler Davis and Brooks Auger were both outstanding in the final three innings.
Davis kept USM batters off balance in the seventh and eighth with his nasty left-handed breaking ball. Auger closed out the ninth, and after a long at-bat by the lead-off man, the next two outs came easy for the Louisiana native.
The excellent job done by Mississippi State pitching coach Justin Parker cannot be overlooked. Parker has turned around this pitching staff, and Bulldog hurlers have been the driving force during the MSU six-game winning streak.
Mississippi State seemed down for the count after a 3-4 start to the season, but MSU has found a winning formula. The Bulldogs will be back in action Friday at 6 p.m. CT against Evansville on SEC Network+.
