Video: Mississippi State Pushes Past Georgia with Big 4th Inning

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – Mississippi State junior right-hander Dakota Hudson pitched his fourth quality start and junior right-hander Reid Humphreys hit a pair of home runs as No. 16 Mississippi State beat Georgia 9-2 in the opening game of a Southeastern Conference Easter Weekend baseball series at Dudy Noble Field.

MSU won its series opener for a second straight weekend, while moving to 16-6-1 overall and 3-1 in league play. Georgia fell to 14-9 and 1-3. The Maroon and White removed all doubt from the contest by scoring seven runs in the fourth inning.

“Dakota was really good,” MSU head coach John Cohen said. “We shorted him one day (Thursday start instead of Friday). He didn’t have his best stuff but he gutted it out. He gave up eight hits but five of those didn’t leave the infield. He did a great job of getting the first strike.”

Hudson (3-1) pitched seven innings, allowing eight hits and one run (unearned), with five strikeouts and a season-low one walk. Vance Tatum and Ethan Small pitched an inning apiece in relief. The MSU pitching trio allowed 10 hits and struck out nine. Small struck out the side in his inning of work.

“We really had a great night offensively,” Cohen said. “Our guys were running full speed out of the box and putting pressure on the Georgia defense. Reid showed his power by homering to both sides of the field.”

MSU began the scoring in the second inning on an RBI ground out by Nathaniel Lowe.

After Georgia tied the game with an unearned run, MSU sent the Dudy Noble Field crowd of 6,895 to its feet with a monstrous fourth inning. The Maroon and White had seven straight hits in that at-bat.

Humphreys broke the tie with a solo home run. After singles by Lowe and Gridley, Elih Marrero had an RBI-double. Luke Alexander had an RBI-single. Jacob Robson followed with an RBI-single while Jack Kruger then had an RBI-double. After a popup, Gavin Collins had a two-run single.

In the seventh inning, Humphreys hit his second home run of the game and third of the season.

MSU finished with 15 hits, including a three-hit night by Humphreys. Robson, Kruger, Lowe and Marrero each added two hits.

MSU and Georgia resume their series with a 6:30 p.m. Good Friday start. The series finale is at 2 p.m. Saturday. Both of those contests will be available on SEC Network +.