Stratton superb as Bulldogs slow Tide

Published 12:06 am Saturday, May 5, 2012

Chris Stratton turned in another strong performance, and once again got Mississippi State’s weekend started on the right foot.

Stratton threw seven shutout innings to run his record to 9-0, and the Bulldogs beat Alabama 3-1 on Friday night. Mississippi State won for the sixth time in eight Southeastern Conference series openers this season.

Stratton struck out six batters, walked none, and scattered seven hits. Four relievers teamed up to pitch the last two innings. He became the first SEC pitcher to win nine games this season.

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“Obviously, Strat came in and did a phenomenal job tonight for us, but I think the secret is out on him that Friday night in the SEC, they’re not going to get to two strikes,” Mississippi State coach John Cohen said. “They’re going to take weaker swings and put balls in play, so he’s got to be a little more economical with his pitches.”

Adam Frazier went 2-for-4 for Mississippi State (28-17, 11-11 SEC) and drove in a run with an infield single in the fifth inning. Mitch Slauter followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead.

MSU scored the game’s first run in the fourth inning, when Trey Porter was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a ground out by Daryl Norris.

Alabama (17-29, 6-16) got its run against Mississippi State’s bullpen in the eighth inning. Taylor Dugas led off with an infield hit, went to second on a ground out and scored on a base hit by Ben Moore to cut it to 3-1.

Ace reliever Caleb Reed coaxed a fly out from Austen Smith to end the inning, but Alabama threatened again in the ninth.

The Tide had runners at first and third with one out before Jonathan Holder — State’s third pitcher of the inning — got James Tullidge to ground into a game-ending double play.

“We had a couple of opportunities where you have to get some hits and string them together at the right time,” Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard said. “We kind of ran short on some guys when they started to mixing and matching, lefty and righty. We didn’t have as many options as we would have liked right there.”