Mississippi State trips up against San Diego
Published 10:50 pm Friday, March 6, 2015
For two weeks, Mississippi State ran up huge run totals and one of the longest winning streaks to start the season the program had ever seen.
Now, it’ll have to contend with a scoring slump and a sudden losing streak.
David Hill threw seven innings of shutout ball Friday night as San Diego beat Mississippi State 2-1 in the opener of a weekend series at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville.
It was Mississippi State’s second straight loss after 13 consecutive wins to begin the season. The Bulldogs scored at least six runs in 11 of those 13 wins. In the two losses, they’ve scored a total of three and had just 12 hits.
Friday’s offensive woes spoiled a strong start by Preston Brown. The junior right-hander allowed five hits and two runs, and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings, but took the loss.
San Diego (5-6) touched Brown for a run in the second inning without getting a hit, then scored another in the fourth on a wild pitch.
Mississippi State pushed the Toreros late, but couldn’t come back against David Hill and relievers Jacob Hill and Anthony McIver.
In the eighth inning, MSU’s Cody Brown drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by Seth Heck to cut the deficit to 2-1.
In the ninth inning, Wes Rea got a leadoff single and pinch runner Jake Vickerson was bunted into scoring position. Gavin Collins drove a pitch deep down the left field line, but it sailed just left of the foul pole. Vickerson was eventually stranded at third as the Bulldogs failed to cash in.
Oakland 3, USM 2
Zach Sterry went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and five Oakland pitchers sidestepped trouble all night as the Golden Grizzlies beat Southern Miss in the opener of a weekend series in Hattiesburg.
Southern Miss left a dozen runners on base, including 10 in a five-inning stretch from the fourth through the eighth.
The Golden Eagles (7-5-1) had a four-game winning streak snapped. Oakland (1-8) won its first game of the season.
Oakland took a 3-0 lead on back-to-back RBI doubles by Ian Yetsko and Brett Impemba in the top of the sixth inning, before Southern Miss started its comeback bid.
Matt Durst led off the bottom of the sixth with a double and scored on a ground out to get the Golden Eagles on the board, but they stranded two runners and then stranded two more in the seventh.
In the bottom of the eighth, Taylor Braley reached on a one-out single and scored on a base hit by Ryan Ellis to cut it to 3-2. Southern Miss again left two runners on base, however, and then was retired in order in the ninth.
Jason Hager allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings for Oakland and got the win. He struck out two and walked none. Christian Talley took the loss for Southern Miss after allowing three runs in 5 1/3 innings.