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Mississippi State (20-7-1, 6-2 SEC) handed Ole Miss (20-7, 2-6 SEC) their fifth consecutive loss in today's 6-2 victory for the Bulldogs.
Like last night's performance from Dakota Hudson, Austin Sexton (3-1) took the mound and threw 9 complete innings, only surrendering two runs, neither of which were earned and both of which came in a painful top of the eighth inning.
Sexton struck out eight of the 34 batters he faced today while only giving up four hits. Of the 111 pitches Sexton threw, 70.3% of them were strikes.
At the plate, the Rebels combined to hit .121 while MSU had three times as many hits (we had 12, they had four) for a batting average of .364.
Freshman Jake Mangum would get things started for the day and hit his first career home run on a one-out solo shot in the first inning.
VIDEO | OF @jakemangum15 the ⚾️ for his first career DINGER! #HailState pic.twitter.com/tXMZHUro6K
— MSU Baseball (@HailStateBB) April 2, 2016
The Bulldogs would then go on to blow the lead open to four runs in the bottom of the second inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Ryan Gridley would single into right field to bring home one and advance the batters and reload the bases. Jacob Robson would follow that up with a single of his own into left field which did the exact same thing. Mangum was then hit by a pitch to score one more. A pitching change and a double play would end the fun for Mississippi State in the second.
MSU would bring home two more in the seventh inning to bring the lead to 6-0. Mangum's double would bring Robson home from first but as Mangum attempted to get to third, he was tagged out. Nathaniel Lowe would then single and a Reid Humphreys double would drive another run in.
The Rebels would attempt to mount a comeback, but fell short after scoring two unearned in the top of the eighth. Ole Miss would then be shut down in the top of the ninth in a 1-2-3 inning to end the game and give the series to MSU.
The Bulldogs and Rebels will square off again tomorrow at 1:30 as MSU will attempt to give Ole Miss their second consecutive SEC sweep in a row. Thanks to the two complete games from Hudson and Sexton, MSU will have an entire squadron of pitchers ready to take on the Rebels tomorrow. This is MSU's third consecutive SEC series victory and fourth series victory overall dating back to the series win over Oregon.