Video: Mississippi State Prevails Over Southern Miss in Pearl

March 29, 2016

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PEARL, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – A career-high four-hit night by Nathaniel Lowe led an 18-hit attack as No. 12 Mississippi State knocked off in-state rival Southern Mississippi 13-5 in a college baseball game played Tuesday night before a crowd of 5,982 at Trustmark Park.

With all three Division I schools in the state playing well, this is a huge week for the Bulldogs. MSU will face Southeastern Conference rival and 11^th-ranked Ole Miss for a three-game series this weekend at Dudy Noble Field.

MSU (18-7-1) won for the seventh time in the last eight series meetings with Southern Mississippi (19-7). The Bulldogs made amends for a shutout loss on this playing surface a season ago by collecting their second-highest hit total of the season, while scoring in six different innings.

(Photo Courtesy: Kelly Price, MSU Athletics)

“We had a really good offensive night,” MSU head coach John Cohen said. “We had some things fall our way and that happens sometimes in baseball. On the mound, we didn’t walk anybody (after 10 walks in a Saturday loss to Georgia). That’s a huge stat. That’s a winning stat.”

Jacob Robson added his fifth three-hit game of the season, while Elih Marrero had his second one. Reid Humphreys, John Holland and Ryan Gridley also added multiple hits.

The Bulldogs erased a 2-1 deficit by scoring four times in the fourth inning. From there, the lead was expanded with a single score in the fifth inning and two runs in the sixth inning.

Southern Miss closed within 8-5 in the top half of the seventh only to see MSU come right back with two runs in the seventh inning and three runs in the eighth inning.

In the fourth inning, the Bulldogs had some good fortune as well.

With one out, Marrero reached as a hit batsman and John Holland followed with a single. Gridley had a squeeze bunt to bring home the game-tying run. Robson then beat out an infield single to bring in the go-ahead run. After a hit by Jake Mangum, Lowe continued his monster night with a high fly ball which dropped between the shortstop and left fielder for a pair of runs.

Ryan Gridley had an RBI-single an inning later. In the sixth inning, Humphreys had an RBI-double and Marrero had an RBI-single. Robson had an RBI-single and Lowe had an RBI-double in the eighth inning.

Sophomore right-hander Ryan Rigby (3-0) pitched 2.2 innings in relief of starter Konnor Pilkington, to pick up the win. Pilkington allowed five hits and two runs (one earned) in 3.1 innings of work. Vance Tatum followed Rigby and Humphreys pitched the final two innings.

The MSU quartet of pitchers allowed 11 hits and three earned runs, with no walks and 11 strikeouts.

Southern Mississippi received three hits from Tim Lynch and two hits from Dylan Burdeaux and Tracy Hadley. Hadley hit the only home run in the contest. Cody Livingston (1-2) took the loss.

MSU and Ole Miss meet at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. All three games will be available live nationally on SEC Network +.