Mississippi State Baseball get 2016's First Win

Last night's rocky start to the 2016 season may have reminded many of the infamous 8th inning meltdowns that plagued much of last season, but the Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-1)  were able to turn things around against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits (0-2) in the first game of a Saturday double header 17-4.

The scoring would start early for the home team, as MSU would plate 3 runs in the 1st inning to draw first blood. Brent Rooker and Gavin Collins would each get RBI doubles and Ryan Gridley would get an RBI single of his own. The Bulldogs' bats would stay hot in the 2nd inning as well, with Mississippi State tacking on two more runs thanks to another RBI double, this time from Jack Kruger, and another RBI from Rooker.

South Dakota State would answer back in the top of the 3rd by scoring two runs of their own to cut the lead to 5-2, but this is as close as the Jackrabbits would get to a come back. After MSU added another run in the bottom of the 3rd inning from a Reid Humphreys double, the Bulldogs would explode on offense, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the 4th. MSU would get six hits to go with two walks and an error to help blow open the game. SDSU would go on to add a couple of runs in the 5th and 6th innings, but it clearly wasn't enough as MSU would add on four runs in the 5th and the 7th innings, which brings the game to the final score of 17-4.

Daniel Brown, who got the start for Mississippi State, threw 111 pitches, 74 of which were strikes, in 4.2 innings of work Brown would tally 7 strikeouts and gave up three earned runs in his time on the mound. He was replaced by freshman Keegan James, who threw for 4.2 innings and would earn the win. James struck out two batters in his first appearance.

The Bulldogs are currently playing against Florida Atlantic but will return to action again tomorrow to play South Dakota State at 3:30.