GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Mississippi State baseball team is making itself feel right at home on the road in the Southeastern Conference.
No. 5 MSU won its fourth-straight SEC series Sunday with a 2-1 victory against No. 1 Florida in the final game of a three-game set at McKethan Stadium.
MSU has opened league play with series victories against Vanderbilt and Florida on the road and Georgia and Ole Miss at home.
The last time the Bulldogs won four-straight SEC series was March 30-April 22, 2001. The win also helped the Bulldogs secure their fifth-straight overall series victory. It is the first time MSU has accomplished the feat since Feb. 28-March 30, 2003.
MSU (23-9-1, 8-4 SEC) strengthened its hold on a top-10 ranking and the SEC’s Western Division lead by completing a 3-1 week.
It was MSU’s first series win at Florida (29-5, 8-4) since 2007.
“Our kids gutted this out,” MSU coach John Cohen said. “The name of this game was situational pitching. We had some key hits when it mattered. So proud of our pitchers today. We had some situations where we could have gotten more but we didn’t. We pitched well and defended well. We did enough.
“We were in the right place at the right time and made the right pitches. Every single pitch our kids are into the game. I can’t be more proud. This is a marathon, though, and we aren’t even halfway through yet.”
MSU snapped Florida’s 29-game home winning streak Saturday before joining Kentucky as the only league teams to take a series from Florida. Ironically, Kentucky and MSU are the only league teams to begin the conference slate with four series wins.
MSU holds a one-game lead over Texas A&M in the Western Division standings. It trails South Carolina by two games in the overall standings.
Konnor Pilkington, Zac Houston, and Reid Humphreys combined on the mound for the Bulldogs. In his first SEC start, Pilkington allowed no hits and three runs in four innings. Houston (2-0) struck out three and gave up one hit in 3 1/3 innings. He was pulled after a one-out walk in the eighth inning for Humphreys, who earned his third save. Humphreys worked out of a bases-loaded spot in the eighth and retired the first two in the ninth before giving up a home run to Peter Alonso. He then ended the game with a strikeout.
The win helped MSU climb to No. 2 in this week’s Baseball America poll.
MSU will play host to Memphis at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
MSU started the scoring in the fifth on Ryan Gridley’s second home run, a solo shot to left-center field. In the seventh, Brent Rooker doubled and John Holland doubled to send Rooker to third base. A walk to Jake Mangum loaded the bases. Marrero followed with an RBI single. Two strikeouts and a popup ended the threat.
MSU had nine hits, including a career-high tying three by Marrero and a two by Rooker.
Florida had six hits. Starting pitcher Dane Dunning (2-2) worked five innings and took the loss.
MSU will play host to Memphis at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (SEC Network+) at Dudy Noble Field.
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