Cowbell Corner

Wild Pitches Sink No. 4 Mississippi State in Loss to No. 10 Southern Miss

Southern Miss used a 450-foot first-inning homer and late wild pitches to hold off Mississippi State’s comeback in a 7-6 win Tuesday night.
Taylor Hodges|
UCLA Bruins against Mississippi State Bulldogs during the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field.
UCLA Bruins against Mississippi State Bulldogs during the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field. | Dustin Safranek-Imagn Images

Mississippi State had its chance to fire the shot heard around the college baseball world on Sunday and missed. On Tuesday, Southern Miss didn’t.

The Golden Eagles pulled off a midweek win that’ll get the attention of every college baseball fan, media pundit and coach. No. 10 Southern Miss upset No. 4 Mississippi State, 7-6, on its home field in Hattiesburg.

And the shot everyone heard came very early in Tuesday’s game.

Drey Barrett sent a hanging slider over the center-field wall at Pete Taylor Park for a three-run homer that traveled 450 feet. That first inning blast gave the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead. That’s not a fluke home run. That’s the kind a team swinging the bat well hits, and it leaves no doubt about where it’s landing.

Bulldogs starter Brandon Sweeney managed to escape the inning without further damage and can’t be faulted for the run that scored when Ryder Woodson dropped a routine fly ball with two outs in the second.

Freshman Jack Gleason seemed to have righted the ship, until he didn’t. Seth Smith smacked a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth to extend Southern Miss’ lead to 5-0. That ended Gleason’s day and signaled that both bullpens were about to get stretched thin.

Mississippi State used seven pitchers. Southern Miss used nine. And while the Golden Eagles combined for 10 strikeouts, not all of their arms were as sharp as the others.

Mississippi State scored all six of its runs in two three-run bursts. In the fifth, Noah Sullivan drove in a pair on a two-out, full-count pitch, and two pitches later, Reed Stallman began his RBI streak with a single to right.

In the seventh, Stallman went the other way for another two-run single, and Woodson made up for his earlier error with an RBI single up the middle that put the Bulldogs ahead 6-5.

But Southern Miss had an answer. A Maddox Miller wild pitch with two runners in scoring position tied the game in the seventh. And a few pitches later, another wild pitch (even as Miller recorded a strikeout) pushed across the go-ahead run.

With a 7-6 lead, Southern Miss closed the door with shutout innings and sent Mississippi State home with its second loss of the season.

Winning/Losing Pitchers

  • WP: Josh Och (3-0), 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 K, 1 HP
  • LP: Maddox Miller (1-1), 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 K, 2 WP

Mississippi State Batting Leaders

  • Reed Stallman: 3-4, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
  • Noah Sullivan: 1-4, 2 RBI, 1 R, 2 2B, 1 BB, 2 K
  • Ryder Woodson: 1-5, 1 RBI, 2 K

Next Up

Tuesday night won’t leave a good taste in anyone wearing maroon’s mouth, but redemption is always right around the corner.

Mississippi State will host Lipscomb for its next weekend series starting at 6 p.m. Firday on SECN+

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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