[4/8/04]HATTIESBURG Brooks M. Dunn boot-scooted through the vaunted Southern Miss offense and helped the Mississippi State Bulldogs to a 9-7 win over No. 11 Southern Miss.

The sophomore from Birmingham shut the door on the Golden Eagles with three innings of no-hit relief just as the hosts were climbing back into the game.

“I wanted to come in and be aggressive and throw my game,” said Dunn, who came on in the bottom of the sixth after the Eagles had shaved a 5-1 lead to 5-4. “(Starter) Josh Johnson was pumping strikes all night, and I wanted to do the same thing.

“This is great to come down here and get two wins, especially with their national ranking. Hopefully this will carry over into this weekend series with Kentucky.”

The Bulldogs, coming off an 18-9 win on Tuesday night, handed the 11th-ranked Golden Eagles their first back-to-back home losses in two years.

“I will take credit for the loss,” Southern Miss coach Corky Palmer said. “My decisions killed us. I started the wrong guy and brought the wrong guy in in the ninth.”

Southern Miss (24-6) starter Josh Tritz lasted only two innings, giving up five runs and six hits before giving way to Josh Grant.

Grant kept the Bulldogs at bay until Thomas Berkerey’s eighth-inning home run gave MSU a 6-4 lead and chased Grant.

Mississippi State added a run off Adam Smith and two more off closer Austin Tubb to take a 9-4 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning.

“They have a lot of lefties, and I think lefties are the only ones who can hit (Tubb),” said former Warren Central standout Kevin Coker of the Eagles’ closer, a sidewinder who had only allowed one run in 13 appearances this season. “He didn’t have it tonight. He’s human.”

Coker was instrumental in a ninth-inning rally that netted the Eagles three runs. His double down the left field line scored Jason Lowery to pull USM to within four runs, and Coker then scored on an error. But after allowing one more run, MSU closer Saunders Ramsey struck out Ryan Frith to end the game.

“We should have hit the ball better, good gosh almighty,” Palmer said. “We’re supposed to have a fine offense and Grant gave us a shot. In the middle of the week, our pitching is average. We are going to have to score runs to win these ballgames.”

Mississippi State was coming off a Tuesday night win that saw Southern Miss score eight runs in the first inning. The Bulldogs (19-10) scored 18 unanswered runs, and used the momentum from that game Wednesday night.

“We played with a little extra spark tonight,” Dunn said. “We had more confidence after the way we came back last night.”

Brad Corley paced Mississippi State with two of the team’s 15 hits, including a three-run home run in the top of the third that gave the visitors a 5-1 lead. Steve Gendron, Jeffrey Rea, Brad Jones, Brian LaNinfa, Jeff Butts and Berkerey each had two hits in the win.

Carlos Velasquez led Southern Miss with two hits and three RBIs. His home run in the bottom of the first put the Eagles on the board.

USM scored two more in the fourth and added one in the fifth, before Dunn shut the door.

“These two aren’t killers, they’re character builders,” Coker said. “We showed at the end that we are a tough team.

“We will not let these get us down.”