No. 5 Mississippi State Baseball Blanks No. 11 Ole Miss 2-0 to Open Series

OXFORD, Miss. — No. 5 Mississippi State baseball used stellar pitching to beat No. 11 Ole Miss 2-0 in the opening game of a three-game Southeastern Conference series Friday night at Swayze Field.

The start of the game was pushed back from a 6:30 p.m. CT start to 8:30 p.m. CT due to a weather delay. There was also a fog delay after the top of the sixth inning, which lasted 32 minutes until 10:56 p.m.

MSU (40-10, 16-9 SEC) scored a run in the third and fifth innings, while holding Ole Miss (32-18, 15-10 SEC) to six hits. This is the first time the Rebels have been shut out all season.

Redshirt-junior left-hander Ethan Small (7-1) continued his dominance with a stellar five innings of work. He struck out 10 batters, walked one and allowed just three hits to earn the win.

Sophomore Tanner Allen accounted for both runs, as he finished with two RBIs on 3-for-4 hitting in the contest. Sophomore Jordan Westburg joined him with a multi-hit performance, as he finished 2-for-3 with one run scored.

MSU scored the first run of the game in the top of the third inning when Westburg hit a two-out single to left center and came around to score on an RBI double from Allen to put MSU up 1-0.

The Dawgs added a run in the fifth inning to make it 2-0. Junior Gunner Halter led off the inning with a single through the left side. A pair of ground outs then moved him over to third before Allen’s single up the middle plated him.

After the 32-minute fog delay, senior Jared Liebelt took the mound. He allowed no runs on three hits and fanned two batters in four innings to earn his fifth save on the year.

Junior right-hander Will Ethridge (5-5) was charged with the Ole Miss loss after allowing two runs on six hits in six innings pitched. He struck out four batters and walked two.

State and Ole Miss are scheduled to be back in action again Saturday at 6 p.m. CT at Swayze Field. The game will be televised by SEC Network+.