MSU Baseball Team Scores 16 Runs, Wins Finale

February 15, 2015

MorrisAdmin,

STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – On a cold opening weekend at Dudy Noble Field, the 14th-ranked Mississippi State baseball team warmed up the bats.

For a second straight game, MSU enjoyed an eight-run inning as the Diamond Dawgs rolled past Cincinnati 16-7. The Bulldogs won all four games they played on the opening weekend of the season, with three wins over Cincinnati and another over Miami (Ohio).

Junior John Holland drew his third career start and first at first base. Holland was the hitting star Sunday with three of the team’s 15 hits and four RBIs. Seth Heck and Reid Humphreys each added three hits.

For the weekend, the Bulldogs scored 48 runs – the most through four games since the 2007 College World Series team. The Bulldogs scored 15-plus runs in the final two games of the weekend for the first time since 2000.

MSU (4-0) finished the weekend 7 of 16 with 22 RBIs with the bases loaded. As a team, the Bulldogs hit .343 with 46 hits and 40 RBIs. Heck led the way with a 9 of 16 weekend, while Jacob Robson and Humphreys each had six hits.

In the Sunday win, MSU rallied from an early 1-0 deficit with two runs in the first inning and eight more scores in the third inning. The lead was increased with four runs in the fourth inning.

Cincinnati (1-3) responded with six runs in the fifth inning, before MSU tallied twice more in the seventh inning.

An RBI-single by Humphreys tied the game at 1 in the first inning. An RBI ground out by Robson put the Bulldogs on top.

Brent Rooker’s first career hit – an RBI-double – started the monster third inning. Holland, Heck and Ryan Gridley also had RBI-singles in the inning.

In the fourth inning, Holland had a two-run single, while Josh Lovelady had an RBI-single. Holland also had an RBI-single in the seventh inning.

Daniel Brown (1-0) picked up his first MSU win with two innings of relief work, following starter Austin Sexton. Trevor Fitts had three innings of shutout relief to end the contest in his first appearance of the season.