MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Mississippi State team had a season-high 23 hits Wednesday night in a 15-4 victory against Alabama State at Riverwalk Stadium.
“We had a good night offensively,” MSU coach Gary Henderson said. “Putting a crooked number up early always relaxes the team. We had a lot of solid contact tonight. Just as important as getting all of the hits is the fact that we had some really good at-bats.”
Jake Mangum, Luke Alexander, Hunter Stovall, and Dustin Skelton had three hits to lead the Bulldogs.
MSU (18-16) scored seven times in the first inning. The highlight was Jordan Westburg’s first home run of the season.
The Bulldogs added two runs in the third, one in the fourth, and two in the sixth to build a 12-0 lead.
Alabama State (17-15) scored four times in the seventh before MSU answered with three in the eighth.
Tanner Allen, Westburg, Tanner Poole, and Jordan Anderson had two hits. Alexander had four RBIs, while Westburg had three and Skelton had two.
An RBI double by Alexander got the Bulldogs going in the right direction. Stovall followed with an RBI single. After an error scored the third run, Westburg hit a two-run home run to left center. A two-run single by Alexander capped the big inning. Back-to-back sacrifice flies by Anderson and Alexander scored the two third-inning runs.
Westburg had a sacrifice-fly in the fourth. In the sixth, Tanner Poole and Skelton had RBI singles.
In the eighth, Skelton had an RBI double, Rowdey Jordan had a sacrifice fly, and Allen had an RBI single.
Denver McQuary pitched five shutout innings to pick up the win. He allowed five hits and two walks and struck out four. Riley Self, Cole Marsh, and Keegan James also pitched.
MSU will return to action a 7:30 p.m. Friday (SEC Network) against No. 21 Auburn in Auburn, Alabama.
Second-consecutive road trip sends Alabama to Texas A&M
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Alabama baseball team will take on No. 19 Texas A&M at 8 tonight (ESPNU) in Game 1 of a three-game, Southeastern Conference series at Blue Bell Park.
Games two and three will air on SEC Network+. Friday’s matchup is set for 6:30 p.m. The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
Alabama (21-13, 5-7 SEC) Is coming off a 12-2 victory against Alabama-Birmingham on Tuesday.
No. 22 Texas A&M (24-9, 5-7) is coming off a 6-5 victory against Texas on Tuesday. Texas A&M lost to LSU in the first game of their weekend series last week, but it rebounded to win the last two games to take its first SEC series of the season.
Junior right-hander Sam Finnerty is scheduled to start for Alabama. Texas A&M will send sophomore left-hander John Doxakis to the mound.
MUW baseball team falls to Belhaven
JACKSON — The Mississippi University for Women baseball team lost to Belhaven 14-13 in 11 innings Wednesday night at Smith-Wills Stadium.
The loss drops the Owls to 17-11.
The W scored seven runs in the first inning. Will Peters, Heath Ford, Damain Benefield, Brandon Jones, and Brandon Neal had singles in their first turn at-bat.
The Owls defense held strong in the bottom of the inning to keep the Blazers scoreless for a 7-0 lead.
After seven innings, The W led 11-6. In the eighth, the Owls scored two more runs, but the Blazers answered with four runs to cut the deficit to 13-10.
In the bottom of the ninth, Belhaven tied the game with three runs.
In the bottom of the 11th, Belhaven claimed the victory with an RBI single.
Austin Sparks (0-2) entered the game in the eighth to relieve starter David Standifer. The right-hander pitched 3 1/3 innings and allowed four earned runs. He allowed four hits and struck out two.
Standifer scattered 13 hits and allowed 10 runs (nine earned). He struck out three.
Leon “Trey” Petite and Brandon Jones went 3-for-6. Jones scored three runs and had an RBI, while Petite scored a run and had an RBI.
Nicholas Brooks went 1-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
Benefield hit his sixth home run a part of a three-hit day. He added two RBIs and scored two runs.
The W will return to action at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 14 when it plays host to Concordia College – Alabama at the Columbus High School.
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