Mississippi State Baseball Edges Texas Southern

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Dominant offense, including a five-run fifth inning, leads Mississippi State baseball to an 11-6 victory over Texas Southern Wednesday night at Dudy Noble Field.

Following a 17-run game on Tuesday, Mississippi State (12-10, 0-3 SEC) followed with an 11-run win over Texas Southern (7-14).

A home run by Christian Sanchez gave Texas Southern a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but State quickly erased the deficit by scoring two runs in the second inning.

Dustin Skelton’s single, which scored Elijah MacNamee, tied the game at 1-1. Jordan Westburg brought home the go-ahead run on a ground ball out.

In the third inning, Tanner Allen singled, and later scored on a wild pitch to gave the Diamond Dawgs a 3-1 lead.

MSU then pushed the lead to 5-1 after four frames. Westburg had an RBI-single and Luke Alexander added a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

The fifth inning is where State took a commanding 10-1 lead. The Diamond Dawgs scored five runs on five hits. Hunter Stovall doubled and scored Josh Hatcher, MacNamee singled and scored Stovall, Mangum singled up the middle and scored MacNamee, Alexander walked and scored Skelton and Westburg scored on a passed ball.

The Diamond Dawgs then increased the lead to 11-1 in the sixth inning on an RBI-double by Westburg.

Texas Southern scored two runs in the seventh inning and three in the eighth, but that’s it, State held on for an 11-6 victory.

After a season-high 18 hits in a Tuesday night win over Alcorn State, MSU followed up with 14 hits against Texas Southern. Stovall led the way with three hits. Mangum, Hatcher, Skelton and Westburg each had two hits apiece.

Cole Gordon (2-1) pitched 2.1 innings and earned the win for the Diamond Dawgs. He allowed one hit and one run. He struck out struck out two batters.

Keegan James and Jared Liebelt each threw two innings apiece in relief. Denver McQuary pitched the seventh inning. Trysten Barlow started the eighth inning, but was pulled after facing four batters without any outs. Cole Marsh finished the eighth inning and recorded the first two outs of the ninth inning. Blake Smith recorded the final out of the game.

Peyton Schneider (0-5) was charged with the loss. He pitched 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs—six earned—on 10 hits. He struck out one batter and walked two.

MSU will return to SEC play this weekend with a trip to Columbia, Missouri for a three-game series with the Missouri Tigers (15-5, 1-2 SEC). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday.